After the Soviet Union
troop withdrawal withdrawing the combatant troops from
Communist Afghanistan, relations began to normalize with Pakistan. In the wake of
fall of communism, Russian-Pakistan relations were warmed rapidly. In 1989, Soviet ambassador to Pakistan offered Pakistan to install a commercial nuclear power plant in the country, however after U.S. intervention, the plans were sent into cold storage. In 1994–95, Benazir Bhutto attempted to warm relations with Russia but suffered a major setback when Benazir Bhutto's government recognized
Taliban-controlled government in Afghanistan as legitimate entity. In 1996, Russia willingly agreed to launch Pakistan's second satellite,
Badr-B, from its
Baikonur Cosmodrome for the lowest possible charges. shakes hands with Vladimir Putin (left), 2002. In 1997, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to warm relations with Russia after sending farewell messages to Russian Federation. In 1998, although Russia congratulated India for conducting second nuclear tests, (see
Pokhran-II), Russia did not immediately criticize Pakistan for performing its nuclear tests (see
Chagai-I and
Chagai-II) by the weekend of May 1998. In April 1999, Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif paid an important
state visit to
Kremlin, this was the first trip to Moscow paid by a Pakistani Prime Minister in 25 years, but no breakthrough was made. In 1999, Russia welcomed Pakistan and India for making a breakthrough in their relations with the
Lahore Declaration but vehemently criticized Pakistan for holding it responsible for the outbreak of
Indo-Pakistani War of 1999. Meanwhile, Russia played a major role in ending the war but remained hostile towards Pakistan. Russia condemned the
1999 Pakistani coup d'état against Nawaz Sharif that removed him from power. On 19 April 2001, the
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Losyukov paid a state visit to Pakistan, and both countries agreed to co-operate in economic development and to work towards peace and prosperity in the region. In the wake of
September 11, 2001 attacks, the relations were warmed rapidly when Pakistan denounced the Taliban and joined the
NATO coalition to hunt down jihadist organizations and
al-Qaeda. The decision of Pakistan to join the international struggle against terrorism has led to Russia-Pakistan relations being greatly improved. Russia also played an integral role to ease off the nuclear
2001 Indo-Pakistan tensions. In November 2016, Pakistan also decided to grant Russia access to the
Gwadar Port, a warm water sea port as has done to both
Iran and
Turkmenistan.
Improvement in relations (right) meeting
Asif Zardari (left) in 2010. {{Rquote|right|We must know where we deceived ourselves to avoid being deceived again.... Russia is one of our closest neighbors... And (could) be an important partner. Russia vowed its support for Pakistan in its struggle against the Taliban militants. In 2007, the relations between Pakistan and the
Russian Federation were reactivated after the 3-day official visit of
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. He was the first Russian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan in the post
Soviet-era in 38 years. He had "in-depth discussions" with President
Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz. The major focus of the visit was to improve bilateral relations with particular emphasis on ways and means to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries. Under the Presidency of
Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister
Yousef Raza Gilani, relations between Pakistan and Russia improved significantly. In 2010, Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin stated that Russia was against developing strategic and military ties with Pakistan because of Russian desire to place emphasis on strategic ties with India. meeting with Russian deputy foreign minister A.N. Borodavkin, 2012. In 2011, Russia changed its policy and Putin publicly endorsed Pakistan's bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and said that Pakistan was a very important partner in South Asia and the Muslim world for Russia. Putin offered Russia's assistance in expansion of
Pakistan Steel Mills and provision of technical support for the Guddu and Muzaffargarh power plants and Russia was interested in developing the Thar Coal Project In 2011, Russia strongly condemned the
NATO strike in Pakistan and the Russian foreign minister stated it is unacceptable to violate the sovereignty of a state, even when planning and carrying out counter-insurgent operations. In 2012, Russian president
Vladimir Putin announced to pay a state visit to Pakistan soon after his re-election, later he cancelled it, citing other crucial engagement. To offset the diplomatic setback caused by this unexpected cancellation of much-anticipated visit, Putin's sent his Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov. Meanwhile,
Pakistan army chief general
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited Moscow from October 4 for three-day official visit. Where he was received warmly by Defence Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov and Russian Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Colonel General
Vladimir Chirkin. On 5-August-2013 Colonel General Vladimir Chirkin visited Pakistan where he was received by General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The two generals discussed matters of mutual interest with emphasis on improving defence cooperation, army-to-army relations the security situation in the region, especially in Afghanistan post 2014. In a press conference, the ambassador of Russia has agreed to sell helicopters to Pakistan to assist the country with terrorism and security related issues. Russia was still holding talks with Pakistan on the supply of the combat helicopters, and had lifted its embargo on the arms supply to Pakistan. "Such a decision has been taken. We are holding talks on supplying the helicopters," head of state-owned Rostec, Sergei Chemezov said, adding that the negotiations were about Russian Mi-35 Hind attack helicopters. Russia has long been the largest supplier of arms to India, which is the world's top arms buyer. But Moscow's move to supply Islamabad came as New Delhi is seeking to modernise its armed forces' ageing hardware and has recently chosen to buy arms from Israel, France, Britain and the United States. Pakistan and Russia wrapped up their first strategic dialogue on 31-August-2013. At the talks held at the foreign secretaries' level in Moscow, the Pakistani side was led by Foreign Secretary
Jalil Abbas Jilani and Russia's First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov led his side. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Igor Morgulov also participated in the consultations. The dialogue, the Foreign Office says, lays an institutional framework for building closer relations between the two countries through discussions for cooperation in political, economic, defence and other sectors. The two sides exchanged views on regional and international developments. Broadly, Pakistan and Russia agreed for more high-level contacts, closely coordinating positions on regional and international issues, and expanding trade and investment relations and cooperation in the field of energy and power generation. In July 2015 The
COAS General Raheel Sharif paid a visit to Russia where he was received by the military leadership of Russia at
Kremlin. This was the 1st visit of An COAS to
Russia. He was given a Guard of Honour and while laying wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier the
National Anthem of Pakistan was played. This was seen as an improvement in ties as Russia's longtime ally
India moved towards
US. Pakistan, Russia signs a landmark defence deal in 2015. This deal includes sale of four Mi-35 ‘Hind E’ attack helicopters to Pakistan. Russia is also interested in joining CPEC, which will benefit CPEC and strengthen Pakistan's economy. Another deal in 2015 includes Russia to invest $2bn in project of constructing north–south gas pipeline, first phase of which is expected to conclude by Dec 2017.
Economic and geopolitical convergence . In 1990, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan sent a fare well message to Moscow in an attempt to set up the economic coordination between the two countries. In 2003, the bilateral trade between Russia and Pakistan reached to 92 million US dollar, which increased to 411.4 million in 2006. The bilateral trade between each country reached to 630 million in 2008 and ~400 million in 2009. Russia is currently financing the mega-energy project,
CASA-1000, transmitting power generation from Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and
Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan; Russia has provided 500Mn US dollars for the CASA-1000 power transmission project. The Special Representative of Pakistan for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, noted after visit in Moscow on September 9, 2022, that both sides share similar views on the situation in Afghanistan and plan to continue consultations on this issue in the future. Against the background of catastrophic floods in Pakistan in 2022 and possible food shortages, Russia, in addition to gas supplies, offered to supply wheat to Pakistan. In addition, on the sidelines of the SCO summit, at a meeting with
Shehbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned that pipeline gas supplies to Pakistan are possible and part of the infrastructure has already been created. In addition, according to the statements of the Minister of Defense of Pakistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin highly appreciated Pakistan's position on the Russian-Ukrainian war at the UN and at the international level.
Cooperation in the field of energy Cooperation in the field of energy between Pakistan and Russia occupies an important place in bilateral relations, since the Russian Federation is an advanced power in the field of oil and gas production, and Pakistan, in turn, is a developing country with huge energy needs. In October 2015, the partners signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on constructing the north–south gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore. In addition, an Intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was signed on October 13, 2017. In September 2018, the countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding to conduct a feasibility study for the construction of an offshore gas pipeline. As a follow-up, on February 6, 2019, Russian Gazprom and the Pakistani company Inter State Gas Company Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a feasibility study of gas supplies from the Middle East to South Asia. In January 2022, Imran Khan strongly supported
Pakistan Stream gas pipeline and imports of discounted
Russian oil and wheat. In December 2022, Minister of State for Petroleum
Musadik Malik says the Pakistani government has held fruitful talks with Russia for import of cheap oil, diesel and gas.
The Express Tribune said that Russia had raised doubt “over the seriousness of Pakistan to mature the oil deal”. Moscow had asked Islamabad to import “one oil cargo” as a test case. The first oil cargo from Russia may arrive in Pakistan by the end of April 2023. The Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that the country had received its first shipment of discounted Russian oil in 12 June.
Military cooperation of Pakistan and Russia, jointly working together at the communications tent at a Nigerian Air Force Base. Military-technical cooperation between Russia and Pakistan is under development. The Russian Federation had to establish relations with Pakistan, which were severed at the initiative of the USSR back in the 1980s. In 1996, Russia for the first time signed an agreement on the supply of multi-purpose Mi-17 helicopters to Pakistan. During the period from 1996 to 2004, the Russian Federation supplied about 70 helicopters to the partner. Increasing military cooperation between Islamabad and Moscow would not negatively impact Russia's ties with India, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in 2015, adding that Pak-Russia ties were improving in other sectors as well—including energy. The two countries signed a defense cooperation agreement in 2014. As of early 2021, Moscow has supplied Pakistan with a batch of Mi-35 attack helicopters and it has signed contracts with the Asian nation to deliver anti-tank systems, air defence weapons and small arms. In addition, Islamabad intended to purchase another 10-12 units of such helicopters and also showed interest in purchasing multi-purpose Su-35 fighters with a longer range than light Chinese JF-17s, which are in service with the Pakistani Air Force along with American F-16s. Back in 2018, the telegram channel "Militarist" reported that Pakistan had finalized a contract for the purchase of 54 SU-35 fighters, however, this information was not confirmed. On August 7, 2018, during the visit to Pakistan of the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Alexander Fomin, a contract was signed between Moscow and Islamabad, providing Pakistani servicemen with the opportunity to study at universities of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The agreement was signed following the results of the first meeting of the Russian-Pakistani Joint Military Advisory Committee (JMCC). Before signing this document, officers of the Pakistani army were trained in the United States. India had unsuccessfully asked Russia to call off the exercise as a gesture of "solidarity" following the
18 September 2016 militant attack on an Indian Army base, which the
government of India had blamed on the
government of Pakistan. From November 8 to 21, 2020, the 5th joint Russian-Pakistani Druzhba 2020 exercise was held. More than 150 servicemen of the armies of the two countries took part in the exercises. From the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, more than 70 military personnel of special purpose units of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District were involved in the exercise. October 2021 — joint Russian-Pakistani exercise "Friendship-2021", at the
Molkino training ground in the Krasnodar Territory. The main task of the exercises was to improve the ways of interaction when performing a wide range of tasks. Special attention was paid to the development of fighting skills in urban conditions and the use of a "consolidated assault company" in the liberation of settlements and objects captured by terrorists. From February 15 to 16, 2021, a detachment of ships of the Russian Navy, at the invitation of the Pakistani side, took part in the maritime phase of the multinational naval exercises "Aman-2021".
During Russo-Ukrainian war in
Moscow on the eve of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Russia on 23 February 2022. It was the first visit of any Pakistani PM to Russia since 1999. During the two-day visit, he talked with President Putin in
Kremlin about strengthening bilateral "economic and energy cooperation". Pakistan abstained from voting as
UN General Assembly censures Russia in March 2022, and says it ‘remains neutral’. According to Indian media reports, Pakistan has provided weapons to Ukraine despite Russian protests, a claim denied by Pakistan's foreign ministry. It was reported President of Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also made the allegation that Pakistani mercenaries have been recruited by Putin's government to fight against the Ukrainian resistance.
Post-flood relief in 2022 After the devastating floods in 2022, Russia provided assistance to Pakistan. Food, tents and water purification devices were handed over. ==Economic relations==