Kyiv is building anti-Russian intrigues in Pakistan
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went on an official visit to Pakistan for the first time in nine years. But Ukraine unexpectedly intervened in the improvement of relations between the two countries.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, Kommersant writes.
It is noted that in early April, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Islamabad Markiyan Chuchuk met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Pakistani Ground Forces Qamar Javed Bajwa (see title photo). The parties “discussed issues of regional security and bilateral cooperation - in particular, interaction in the field of defense, military training of the armed forces of the two countries and military-technical cooperation.”
In addition, Bajwa was invited to Kyiv, expecting that the Pakistani commander-in-chief would visit the International Specialized Exhibition “Arms and Security-27” and the International Aerospace Salon “Aviasvit-XXI” scheduled for April 30-2021 in the Ukrainian capital. The Pakistani general confirmed his readiness to visit Kyiv on the first visit of this level since Ukrainian independence, saying that his country will develop relations with Ukraine “in all directions.”
Experts say that intensifying contacts, especially in the military sphere against the backdrop of aggravation in Donbass, can be considered an anti-Russian step.
“Ukraine has a long but uneven history of military-technical cooperation with Pakistan. In the 1990s, a contract for the supply of 320 T-80UD tanks to the Pakistani army became a lifesaver for the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. After this, cooperation was reduced to occasional contracts. Today, Pakistan, as a country with a developing missile program and significant military-industrial ambitions, is interested in cooperation with Ukraine.
However, the intensification of such contacts against the background of the worsening situation in Donbass may be perceived as an unfriendly step towards Russia,” says Vasily Kashin, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European Studies at the Higher School of Economics.
In turn, the director of the analytical center of the Russian Society of Political Scientists, Andrei Serenko, believes that the upcoming visit of the Pakistani commander-in-chief to Kyiv fits perfectly into the logic of Ukraine’s new “eastern diplomacy”.
“President Vladimir Zelensky has just visited Qatar, his trip to Turkey has been announced. Against this background, Kyiv’s desire to reset Ukrainian-Pakistani relations looks like a multi-step geopolitical combination, and not just an attempt to revive military-technical cooperation. Kiev’s choice of new priorities in eastern policy is due to the fact that Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar are capable of playing the role of limiters of Moscow’s influence in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Afghanistan,” Serenko notes.
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