ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Russia are eyeing a new partnership as Islamabad and Moscow get closer after decades of trust deficit amid the cold war. Prime Minister Imran Khan, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the telephone this week, is expected to hold a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader in China next month on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics where they will be together along with the Chinese leadership.
PM Imran Khan has also invited President Putin to visit Pakistan at his convenience. Previously then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had invited Putin for a visit as the two countries drew closer putting the bitter past of the cold war behind.
In 2012, when Asif Ali Zardari was the President, Putin had abruptly cancelled a visit to Pakistan. It would have been the first visit to Pakistan by any Soviet or Russian head of state, and a strong signal that something might be changing in the foreign-policy calculus of a country that has always strictly regarded India as its number one regional partner.
Kremlin had then said Putin’s trip to Pakistan was never officially confirmed and his working schedule was “too tight” to accommodate the two-day visit, which was to have included participation in a regular summit of regional leaders on Afghanistan and bilateral talks on trade, technical, and military cooperation with then President Asif Ali Zardari.
However, Putin dispatched Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in October 2012 to Islamabad in what...
Read Full Story: https://nation.com.pk/21-Jan-2022/pakistan-russia-eye-new-partnership
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