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 holding the two 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, part of a warming in the icy relations. It comes as Moscow tries to increase its status in the region, particularly in Afghanistan, where it wants to inject itself as a major player in the effort to bring a peaceful end to decades of war.
“We are ready to strengthen Pakistan’s anti-terrorist potential, including by supplying Pakistan with special military equipment,” Lavrov said without going into detail on the equipment.
Washington is reviewing an agreement it signed with the Taliban more than a year ago as it is reconsidering a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on May 1. Meanwhile, Moscow has stepped up its involvement there, hosting talks between the Taliban and senior Afghan government officials last month. Lavrov suggested that another high-level meeting could be held in Moscow.
Lavrov arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday from neighboring India, with which Moscow has a long and solid relationship. In contrast, the apparent reset in Pakistani-Russian relations is a more recent phenomenon.
In the 1980s, Pakistan was a stage for anti-communist Afghan rebels, aided by the US to oust the Soviet Union, which in 1989 negotiated an end to the 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.
A Pakistani military statement following Lavrov’s talks with Pakistani army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, said they spoke of “improved cooperation on defense and security, regional security, in particular the Afghan peace process.”
Bajwa also reportedly told Lavrov that Pakistan wants regional cooperation, although he did not mention Pakistan’s uncomfortable relationship with neighboring India. Earlier this year, the nuclear-armed neighbors renewed their commitment to a ceasefire along their troubled border separating disputed Kashmir territory.
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 purchase 5 million doses of the Russian-made COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine, and expressed a desire to eventually produce it in Pakistan. He said Pakistan also wanted Russian expertise to modernize its aging rail system and energy sector.
Lavrov also met with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The visit underscores the declining United States influence in the region, while Russian and Chinese influence is increasing, said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the US-based Wilson Center.
“There is good reason why this is the Russian Foreign Minister’s first visit to Islamabad in nearly a decade: relations between Russia and Pakistan are on the rise,” he said in an interview. It also noted a new 25-year development agreement between Iran and China.
Pakistan is also a major player in China’s Belt and Road Initiative – a large-scale, continental infrastructure development project that aims to expand China’s commercial connections worldwide.
“America will soon be ceding important real estate to its biggest rivals,” said Kugelman. “Those are the costs of an imminent US withdrawal from the region. But now that the US plans to withdraw, it is seemingly a price they are willing to bear. “