ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office has announced Pakistan will write to Moscow for “clarification” after a member of the Russian Senate, called Federation Council, accused Islamabad of discussing a potential transfer of sensitive nuclear power information with Ukraine.
According to the state-owned RIA news agency, Igor Morozov, a key member of the defense committee of the Russian Senate, claimed that experts from Ukraine traveled to Pakistan to discuss the matter. He offered no evidence to support the claim.
The lawmaker made the remarks during a news conference as part of a special military project in the wake of the nine-month-old conflict in the eastern European country.
Responding to Morozov, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, spokesperson of the Foreign Office, said the allegation was “unfounded and baseless”, and took Islamabad by “surprise”.
The claim, he said, was made without any rationale and “entirely inconsistent” with the spirit of the relationship between Pakistan and Russia.
“We are seeking clarification on this from Moscow,” the spokesperson added.
The crisis in the European country began on February 24 when President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale land, sea, and air invasion of Ukraine targeting her military assets and cities across the country.
Responding to his Russian counterpart, US President Joe Biden declared the attack “unprovoked and unjustified” and issued severe sanctions against top Kremlin officials, including Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; four of Russia’s largest banks; and the Russian oil and gas industry in coordination with European allies.
In September, President Putin said Moscow was ready to use nuclear weapons if necessary to defend Russia’s “territorial integrity”.
President Biden said the threat had brought the world closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when many feared a nuclear war might be imminent.
Nearly nine months into the conflict, some analysts believe the likelihood of Putin resorting to nuclear weapons has increased since his army suffered a series of major defeats. Other analysts have argued the nuclear risk is overstated, suggesting it would be suicidal for Putin to embark on such an escalation.
