NEW
DELHI: Russia has clarified that its cooperation with Pakistan will remain
“quite limited” and it will never sell weapons to the country that could
potentially change the balance of power in the Indian subcontinent. The
assurance comes after national security adviser Ajit Doval’s visit to Moscow
and high-level counter-terrorism dialogue between India and Russia in Delhi
last week.
“All reports arguing that Russia could also sell
Su-35 fighter jets to Pakistan are false… Islamabad would want to buy these
aircraft and other Russian weapons, but Moscow is unlikely to agree on anything
more than a transfer of a limited number of fighter and transport helicopters
in future,” a Russian government official told ET on condition of anonymity.
Russia’s cooperation with Pakistan will always
remain quite limited, the official said, the recent deal between the two countries
on supply of four Russian fighter helicopters to Pakistan notwithstanding.
The deal had sparked concern in India over the
possibility of Pakistan acquiring more defence equipment from Russia.
When Doval visited Moscow last week, the
situation in Af-Pak region was among the issues discussed threadbare.
Simultaneously, Russia’s deputy foreign minister was in Delhi to hold a
counter-terrorism dialogue with his counterparts in the external affairs
ministry.
India and Russia decided to launch a joint
counter-terror action plan and deradicalisation initiative to combat
international terror. Russia has “deliberately” limited its military
partnership with Pakistan since it will never risk its strategic relations with
India, the Russian official cited earlier said.
The Russia-Pakistan joint military exercise in
Pakistan last year had raised some eyebrows in India, as did the subsequent
Russia-China-Pakistan meeting on the future of Afghanistan. Russia, however,
was the first major power that supported India’s surgical strikes across the
Line of Control in Pakistan occupied Kashmir after the terrorist attack in Uri.
Source :- The Economic Times
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