Troika Rattles Trump: 'Lost India, Russia To Deepest, Darkest China'

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Tianjin, US President Donald Trump said New Delhi and Moscow "have been lost" to China.

"Looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together," Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social, while sharing an image of Modi, Xi and Putin.

The comment by Trump comes as PM Modi, Putin and Jinping were seen together SCO Summit. Analysts labelled the image as “powerful optics” to reflect Russia-China's support for India amid the US tensions.

It follows Trump's accusation that Chinese Xi, Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were "conspiring" against the US. The leaders came together in Beijing for a massive military parade that marked the 80th anniversary of China's victory against Japanese aggression in World War II.

Trump wrote, “The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood' that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader.

Many Americans died in China's quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration (sic)."

Notably, the India-US ties plunged to the lowest in decades after Trump imposed tariffs as high as 50% on Indian imports, and made remarks publicly to target the country. His trade advisor, Peter Navarro, went on to describe the Ukraine war as "Modi's war", and alleged that the business elites in India are primarily benefitting from the discounted crude purchased from Russia.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in a press briefing on Friday, rejected Navarro's recent comments targeting India. "We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr. Navarro, and we obviously reject them," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.