NEW DELHI: India and Russia have together denied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had suggested to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif that he could mediate between India and Pakistan.Responding to questions, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said, “No offer of mediation between India and Pakistan was made by Russia to India.It is my understanding that Russia is very well aware of India’s consistent position to address all outstanding issues with Pakistan bilaterally in an environment free of terrorism and violence.”It started with a report in the Pakistan media, which was followed by the Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria officially welcoming the Russian “offer” of mediation.According to them, this was part of the conversation between Nawaz Sharif and Putin in Astana, on the sidelines of the SCO summit.On Thursday, however, the Russian embassy in India denied there was any such move.According to Russian officials here, “According to our information, this aspect was not discussed at the meeting in Astana and no statement in this regard was ever made by President Putin.” Pakistan attempted to put this out as a sign that Russia was changing its stance vis-a-vis this region, particularly being more sensitive towards Pakistan.It has not been an easy summer for Pakistan. First Nawaz Sharif travelled to Riyadh to be the first South Asian leader to meet US President Donald Trump. However, Trump refused to meet him. In Astana, Sharif suffered the ignominy of not getting a bilateral with Pakistan’s chief benefactor, Chinese President Xi Jinping.In fact, Sharif ’s “non-meeting” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the most important so far. Pakistan has been pushing both India and all its other interlocutors to get New Delhi to restart the bilateral dialogue. India has so far refused.