Russia urges India, Pakistan to 'exercise restraint'

MOSCOW/ANKARA

Russia has joined China and the U.S., calling for India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" as tensions between the two nations reached a boiling point Wednesday when Pakistan claimed that it had shot down two Indian warplanes and arrested two Indian pilots.

"Russia is concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan and urges the two countries to exercise restraint," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the capital Moscow.

Tensions have been running high between the two nuclear nations since Tuesday when India claimed its jets entered Pakistani airspace and bombed a camp of the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

Forty-four Indian troopers were killed in a suicide attack in India-administered Kashmir on Feb. 14.

Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed the Pulwama attack, the deadliest single attack against Indian forces in the region since 1989.

Pakistan has recognized JeM as a terrorist organization since 2002.