ISLAMABAD (AP) – Russia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Moscow and Islamabad will strengthen ties in the fight against terrorism, with Russia providing unspecified military equipment to Pakistan and the two organizing joint exercises at sea and in the mountains.
Sergei 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 frozen relations. It is happening while Moscow is trying to increase its stature in the region, especially in Afghanistan, where it is trying to inject itself as a key player in the efforts to find a peaceful end to the decades of war.
“We are ready to strengthen Pakistan’s anti-terrorist potential, including by providing special military equipment to Pakistan,” Lavrov said, without going into details about the equipment.
Washington is reviewing an agreement it signed more than a year ago with the Taliban, while rethinking the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on May 1. Meanwhile, Moscow has stepped up its involvement and hosted talks between the Taliban and senior Afghan government officials last month. Lavrov suggested that another high-level meeting could take place again in Moscow.
Lavrov arrived in neighboring India on Tuesday in Pakistan, with whom Moscow has had a long and solid relationship. The apparent reset of Pakistani-Russian relations is, however, a more recent phenomenon.
Pakistan was a stage scene in the 1980s for US-backed anti-communist Afghan rebels to oust the Soviet Union, which in 1989 negotiated the end of its 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.
A statement from the Pakistani army following Lavrov’s talks with Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said they had discussed “increased co-operation in defense and security, regional security, especially the Afghan peace process”.
Bajwa also allegedly told Lavrov that Pakistan wanted regional cooperation, although he did not mention Pakistan’s uncomfortable relationship with neighboring India. Earlier this year, nuclear-weapon neighbors renewed their commitment to cease fire along their troubled border, which separates disputed territory in 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 has said that Islamabad will also buy 5 million doses of the Russian COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine and has expressed a desire to eventually produce it in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan also wants Russian expertise to modernize its old railway system, as well as the energy sector.
Lavrov also held meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The visit highlights the declining influence of the United States in the region, while Russian and Chinese influence is growing, says Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center in the United States.
“There is a good reason why this is the first visit of the Russian foreign minister to Islamabad in almost a decade: Russia-Pakistan relations 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 Belt and Road Initiative – a massive intercontinental infrastructure development project aimed at expanding China’s trade connections globally.
“America will soon sell important real estate to its top rivals,” Kugelman said. “This is the cost of an imminent US withdrawal from the region. But with the US intention to withdraw, it seems to be a cost it is willing to bear. “