Q.

How can Pakistan maintain a balance between its growing relationships with Russian federation
(i.e. present Russia) and the ties with its longtime ally USA?

The political relationship between Pakistan and the Russian Federation trace back to 1948 shortly after
the establishment of the sovereign state of Pakistan. Since then, both countries have had what the
current Russian ambassador to Pakistan, Sergey Peskov . Pakistan’s support of the muhajideen, or anti-
Soviet Afghan freedom fighters during the 1979 Soviet War in Afghanistan, has strained Russian and
Pakistani political relations. In addition, Russia’s friendly ties with Pakistan’s rival, India – a strong
relationship that dates back to Soviet times– have faded away political tensions between Russia and
Pakistan. Nonetheless, there have been significant economic, political, and diplomatic ties between the
two countries, since the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989, and the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991. In 2003, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf visited the Kremlin on an
invitation from the Russian President, Vladimir Putin followed by Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail
Fradkov’s visit to Pakistan in 2007. These visits have paved the way for the two countries to improve
bilateral relations through signing agreements for enhancing economic cooperation, trade, and
educational and scientific exchanges. Pakistan maintains a relatively strong relationship in terms of
economic and trade cooperation. Defense is the main field of Pak-Russia ties. The two sides have agreed
to multiply the cooperation. Russia is willing to take the relationship to a new level and forget the bitter
past dating back to the cold war era. Apart from defense, Pakistan wants to also improve trade in other
areas with Russia. Russia is an energy-surplus country. Pakistan has shortages in energy, so the country
hopes to talk on those areas as well. Pakistan is already pursuing the field. It is proved that there is no
permanent friends in the international relations, only interest are primary and supreme. The nature of
Pakistan-US relations the foreign policy orientation has always floating on the outer surface. With the
world shifting from unipolarity to multipolarity Pakistan needs to modify its foreign policy orientation
according to the changing international and regional circumstances. Therefore, being a very strategically
important country in region Pakistan has to forget the cold war and look towards a different relationship
with the regional power based on cooperation and mutual trust while maintain stability in its bilateral
relations with the US. Pakistan geopolitical location and nearness with important lands and sea routes
makes it all more relevant. It is going to be challenging for Pakistan to balance the relation with US
because of the fact that Washington now regards Islamabad as an “accomplice”. So there is no way that
US will look past this game-changing geostrategic fact to make a positive relation with Pakistan to
impede the CPEC. Even remembering in mind that Pakistan Russian relationship is still in its early stages,
it cannot compare to the Islamabad’s relation with Washington. Russia and Pakistan faced off in 1980’s
while the US and Pakistan cooperated to an extent in 2000’s. The best course of action for Pakistan is to
expand its relation with Russia, china and Iran. It is essentially the multipolar bloc of Russia-China-
Pakistan vs the unipolar one of the US-India-Afghanistan. Achieving a perfect balance between the two
powers US and Russia seems to be farfetched dream. Pakistan should try to adopt a carefully balanced
foreign policy in approaching Russia and US. Pakistan should learn from its past experiences. It will also
help grow Pakistan’s economic development. Greater connectivity ushers in deeper cooperation, which
Pakistan has the potential to achieve if it makes the right choices.