Russia envoy defends growing ties with Pak
NEWDELHI: Russia’s envoy to India on Monday defended his country’s burgeoning relationship with Pakistan, calling for a “realistic” approach to regional security and stability and saying Islamabad’s “credibility” in the war on terror had increased.
Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev’s remarks at an event organised by the think tank Ananta Aspen Centre, come against the backdrop of growing pressure from the West, especially the US, on Pakistan to crack down on terrorists operating from its soil and to curb widespread terror financing.
“In my take… after this country joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, after this country started to take serious measures to curb the financing of terror, the credibility of Pakistan is growing and there is no reason, no sense to deny its wish, its will to be a part of regional and global efforts to fight terror, to search for stability and to enhance economic integration,” he said at the question and answer session.
Earlier in his speech, Kudashev said Russia is “open for contacts with every country” to ensure regional stability. Without naming Pakistan or the US, he also said “excessive pressure” on any of Afghanistan’s neighbours would “just antagonise them and make numerous problems even more complicated”.
However, Kudashev said several times that Russia’s ties with Pakistan could not be compared to the strategic partnership with India, which is one of the leading players in the Asia Pacific and Eurasia.
Problems between India and Pakistan should be resolved diplomatically in line with the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration, and Russia would support such a dialogue if requested by both sides, Kudashev said.
The envoy also stated Russia’s support for a dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, describing it as the “only way forward for the sake of lasting national reconciliation”.