KATHMANDU, June 6 -- The moment that crystallized at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this week was not a bilateral meeting between heads of state. It was a Nepali industrialist standing on a Russian forum stage, telling Moscow it was missing a power play - literally.

Upendra Mahato, founder of the Mahato Industries Group of Companies and among Nepal's most prominent business figures, called on Russia to participate in Nepal's hydropower development and proposed establishing a Russia-Nepal-India energy triangle at the sidelines of SPIEF 2026. His reasoning was straightforward: India needs electricity on a scale its neighbors can supply, and Nepal - sitting atop some of the most developable river systems in Asia - has the p...