Russia
is playing its political “chess games” not only with the U.S. and Europe. It
also wants to play prominent role in South Asia, where Russia has its strategic
interests either.
In early November, the Pakistani newspaper The
Express Tribune reported on Islamabad’s decision to repay Moscow debt.
On December, 2 Russia and Pakistan signed an
agreement on settlement of mutual financial claims and commitments on
operations of the former Soviet Union, whereby Pakistan will repay the debt of
$93.5 mln to Russia. The document was signed by Russian Deputy Minister of
Finance Sergei Storchak and Pakistani Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Russia Qazi Khalilullah.
In the 1980s, Soviet enterprises purchased textiles
and other materials from Pakistani companies. To ensure the functioning of
barter trade, the USSR opened two accounts in the National Bank of Pakistan.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Pakistani exporters stated that part
of their goods had not been paid, and the dispute led to the freezing of 105
million dollars from Russian accounts in the Bank of Pakistan in 1996.
According to The Express Tribune sources, the payment
of the debt will allow Russia to invest in various sectors of the economy of
Pakistan. In connection with this event it is
worth considering the Pakistan’s strong interest to sign a deal to purchase
military hardware worth billions of dollars from Russia.
According to some reports, the deal is expected to
amount $9 billion under which Islamabad would purchase heavy and medium fighter
jets, medium and short-range air defense systems, tanks, combat helicopters,
and warships. Currently, China is the largest
arms supplier to Pakistan. From 2014 to 2018, China sold weapons for 6.4
billion dollars. The second place in the supply of weapons is held by the
United States, which concluded contracts worth 2.5 billion dollars. The third
is Italy, which sold weapons in the amount of 471 million dollars. If the $9
billion contract would be signed, Russia will become the number one arms exporter
to Pakistan.
In this case relations between two South Asia’s
countries India and Pakistan would get even more complicated. While India and Pakistan share common historical, cultural,
geographic and economic ties, their relationship is full of hostility and
suspicion.
The matter is some time ago
India preferred French 4th generation Rafale fighters instead of Russian
Su-30MKI fighters.
Probably, Pakistan wants to become Russia’s closer partner than India. It can
be assumed that by repaying a debt, Islamabad dreams to gain loyalty from
Moscow. Obviously, Pakistan wants to play on the contradictions between India
and Russia and reduce the importance of India as a strategic partner of Russia
while increasing its own importance.
This “love triangle” could change the situation on
world arms market as well as political landscape in the region.