ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The United States “communicated” to Islamabad its position on the military crisis unfolding in Ukraine before the prime minister departed on the historic tour to Russia, a State Department spokesperson said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Moscow early Thursday to push for the construction of a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies.
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI‘s arrival and reception at Moscow Airport, Russia.#PMIKinRussia pic.twitter.com/LBL8jzw9c1
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) February 23, 2022
Khan’s trip to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss issues including economic cooperation comes hours after a number of Western nations hit Russia with new sanctions for its military deployment into parts of eastern Ukraine.
Western nations, led by the US, have been warning for weeks that Moscow may be preparing for a possible all-out mass invasion to conquer its neighbour. Russia denies this, and Putin’s moves so far have stopped well short of such a scenario.
But a televised address by Putin on Monday night — in which he characterised the Ukrainian state and its leaders as illegitimate — added to fears that he may aim to subjugate Ukraine by force.
“Well, we’re certainly aware of the trip […] we believe it’s the responsibility of every responsible country around the world to voice concern, to voice objection to what Putin appears to have in mind for Ukraine,” Ned Price said in his weekly press briefing on Wednesday (early Thursday in Pakistan).
Price said Washington had “communicated to Pakistan our position regarding Russia’s further renewed invasion of Ukraine”, adding it also “briefed them on our efforts to pursue diplomacy over war” on Kyiv.
“We have a longstanding partnership and cooperation with Pakistan. We view our partnership with a prosperous […] democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests.”
Khan is visiting Russia on the Kremlin’s invitation, and Islamabad has said the visit was scheduled well ahead of current developments. In an interview with Russia’s state-owned RT channel on Tuesday, the prime minister said the visit would focus on Islamabad’s relations with Moscow.
“This [Ukraine crisis] does not concern us. We have a bilateral relationship with Russia, and we really want to strengthen it,” he said, adding Pakistan wanted trade relations with “all countries”.
Later, a Foreign Office statement on the visit also made no mention of the crisis. But the prime minister has opposed any military intervention, believing all issues can be resolved through talks and negotiations.
In his briefing, Price said when it came to “shared interests” with Pakistan, such as “aversion of a destabilising conflict”, Washinton hoped that “every country around the world would make that point clearly in unambiguous language in their engagements” with Moscow.
Some foreign policy experts have questioned Khan’s visit to Russia, saying that Putin could use Khan’s presence to further his agenda on Ukraine.
However, in an interview published Monday, Khan played down the timing of the visit, and any effect it would have on Pakistan’s historical relations with the West, including the US.
“This visit was planned well before the emergence of the current phase of Ukrainian crisis […] I received the invitation from President Putin much earlier,” he told Newsweek Pakistan.
