ISLAMABAD (AP) – Russia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Moscow and Islamabad will strengthen ties in the fight against terrorism, with Russia supplying unspecified military equipment to Pakistan and the two doing joint exercises at sea and in the mountains. .
Sergey Lavrov spoke on the second day of a two-day trip to Pakistan. It is the first visit by a Russian foreign minister in nine years, which is part of a warming of icy relations. It comes when Moscow is trying to increase its stature in the region, particularly in Afghanistan, where it is trying to inject itself as a key player in efforts to find a peaceful end to decades of war.
“We are ready to strengthen Pakistan’s anti-terrorist potential, including supplying Pakistan with special military equipment,” Lavrov said, without going into details about the equipment.
Washington is reviewing an agreement it signed more than a year ago with the Taliban as it reconsiders the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on May 1. Meanwhile, Moscow has stepped up its involvement there and held talks last month between the Taliban and senior Afghan government officials. Lavrov suggested that another high-level meeting could be held again in Moscow.
Lavrov arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday from neighboring India, with which Moscow has maintained a long and solid relationship. However, the apparent re-establishment of Pakistani-Russian relations is a more recent phenomenon.
Pakistan was a backdrop in the 1980s for US-backed anti-communist Afghan rebels to oust the Soviet Union, which in 1989 negotiated the end of its ten-year occupation of Afghanistan.
A statement from the Pakistani army following Lavrov’s talks with Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said they were discussing “enhanced cooperation in defense and security, regional security, in particular the peace process Afghans “.
Bajwa reportedly told Lavrov that Pakistan wants regional cooperation, although he did not mention Pakistan’s uncomfortable relationship with neighboring India. Earlier this year, residents with nuclear weapons renewed their commitment to ceasefire along its troubled border, which separates disputed territory from Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Russia is also building a gas pipeline between the southern port city of Karachi and eastern Lahore. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad will also buy 5 million doses of the Russian COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine, and expressed his desire to finally manufacture it in Pakistan. He said Pakistan also wanted the Russian experience to modernize its old railway system and energy sector.
Lavrov also held meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The visit underscores the declining U.S. influence in the region, while Russian and Chinese influence grows, says Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center.
“There is a good reason why this is the first visit of the Russian Foreign Minister to Islamabad in almost a decade: relations between Russia and Pakistan are on the rise,” he said in an interview. He also noted a new 25-year development agreement between Iran and China.
Pakistan is also a key player in China’s road and belt initiative: a massive intercontinental infrastructure development project aimed at expanding China’s trade connections globally.
“The United States will soon cede important real estate to its main rivals,” Kugelman said. .