Russia endorses Pakistan’s anti-drone stance

Russia on Thursday backed Islamabad’s stance on drone strikes in the Tribal Areas by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), calling it a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity.
“Russia believes that it is not acceptable to violate the sovereignty and integrity of any state. We fully support Pakistan’s stance,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov at a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.
Foreign Minister Lavrov was responding to a question on repeated drone strikes by the US in the Pakistani tribal regions.
In response to the question, Foreign Minister Khar said Pakistan had always said in categorical terms that the attacks were not only illegal but had also proved counterproductive because of the collateral damage.
She said the Pakistani position on drone strikes in closed door meetings and in public was the same and any impression otherwise in this regard was totally wrong.
The two foreign ministers earlier held formal talks on various bilateral, regional and international issues with a focus on Afghanistan as well as expansion of cooperation in defence and economic sectors.
Foreign Minister Lavrov’s two-day visit to Islamabad, which ended on Thursday, coincided with the trip to Moscow by army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who is currently in Russia and meeting senior officials there.
Lavrov said relations between Islamabad and Moscow were crucial in the light of the current regional and global situation. “The two countries have agreed on increasing cooperation in several areas, including the political and economic sectors,” he said.
To a question on the cancellation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pakistan to attend the quadrilateral summit early this month, the Russian foreign minister said the reason was the Russian leader’s tight schedule.
“President Putin has sent a message to President Asif Ali Zardari about his unavailability to visit Islamabad due to busy schedule,” he said. Lavrov dispelled the impression that the postponement of Putin’s visit was linked to any misunderstanding between Pakistan and Russia. On her part, Khar said Pakistan was keen to receive President Putin.
She also said it was only due to the tight schedule that Putin had to put off his trip and there was no other reason. “In diplomacy, a single visit does not define the scope of relationships between the states,” she said. She hoped that that there would soon be a meeting between the top leaders of the two countries. Khar also dubbed the Russian foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad a very positive indication following the postponement of Putin’s visit. To a query on Russia’s stance on Kashmir, Foreign Minister Lavrov said Russia welcomed the efforts of Pakistan and India to resume their dialogue and the steps that they had taken, the confidence-building measures (CBMs) for the normalization of relations. He said the two South Asian states were capable of resolving their issues bilaterally. On Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Lavrov said the solution to Afghan issue should come from within the country. He said all other proposals that emanated from abroad would not work to resolve the contentious matter. Earlier in her opening statement, Foreign Minister Khar said Pakistan’s political leadership was committed to having strong bilateral relations with the Russian federation and also to further expand those ties into all areas of cooperation. She said Pakistan-Russia ties entered a “new era” of bilateral relations with the visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Moscow. Khar said the country’s parliament had given clear policy guidelines for further strengthening and improving ties between the two countries. She talked about the recently-inked three memoranda of understanding on the expansion and modernization of the Pakistan Steel Mills, collaboration and cooperation in the Railways and the energy sector while terming them a positive development. The foreign minister hoped that the two countries would be able to move beyond the MoUs. She said during their meeting, they also discussed the conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria, as well as other crises in the Middle East and North Africa. None of the foreign ministers offered details about what they exactly discussed, but Lavrov said there “is a convergence of views on all these issues”.