Prime Minister Imran Khan managed to pull off a path-breaking visit to Russia despite all the odds. There had been both local and international forces at work, which did not want the Pakistani leader to visit Moscow at all. The crisis in Ukraine gave them an opportunity to mount the pressure. Till the last minute, before the Prime Minister and his team embarked upon the journey, there were frenzied calls from various quarters, including some from the mainstream opposition politicians, that he should cancel the visit. Even after Imran Khan landed in Moscow, these demands kept growing that at least he should cut short the visit.

But just as Imran Khan did not budge from his stance of keeping the businesses open and have the wheels of the economy going at the outbreak of the Pandemic, despite all the pressure, here again he stuck to his guns.

“It was a historic opportunity for Pakistan to develop substantive relations with Moscow,” said Shamshad Ahmad, a veteran diplomat and Pakistan’s former foreign secretary. “Only a leader of Imran Khan’s stature could have availed this opportunity as many of our past rulers would first look at Washington before taking any such decision,” he told Bol News.

Indeed, the optics and symbolism of the visit could not have been missed.

To the surprise of many diplomatic experts and analysts, Russian President Vladimir Putin stretched the duration of his meeting with Imran Khan to three hours from the scheduled one hour. And this he did just at the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, when the entire world’s focus was on Moscow.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed a host of issues with President Vladimir Putin, including issues like Islamophobia. The two leaders also explored the possibilities of cooperation in various fields. The two-day visit, which concluded on Friday, February 24, reaffirmed Islamabad’s desire to enhance relations with Russia with a special focus on the energy sector in which the Pakistan Stream North-South Gas Pipeline was marked as a flagship economic project.

Shamshad Ahmad said that many of the detractors of Imran Khan want to portray his Moscow visit as against any third country. “But that is not the case. This visit was not against any country, particularly the United States,” he said. “The Ukraine crisis was not at hand when the visit was planned and any suggestion to cancel it could not have been taken seriously… After all, when the United States kept bombing and invading one country after another, we maintained our relations with Washington.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Office had brushed aside the criticism on the timing of the visit, saying that it was scheduled much earlier and it would not be possible to defer it at the eleventh hour.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also tried to address concerns before he embarked on his Moscow visit by categorically saying that Islamabad doesn’t want to become part of any bloc politics as it did in the past. But even the subtle message given by the Prime Minister of maintaining neutrality raised many eyebrows – especially in the lobby which wants Pakistan to remain only under the shadow of the United States and the Western powers.

However, Prime Minister Imran Khan gave the same message after his meeting with Putin, as the statement stayed out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘regretted’ the military escalation between Russia and Ukraine and said that Pakistan had hoped ‘diplomacy could avert a military conflict,” said the statement issued by the Prime Minister Office. “The Prime Minister stressed that conflict was not in anyone’s interest and that developing countries were always hit the hardest economically in case of conflict. He underlined Pakistan’s belief that disputes should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.”

Diplomatic circles saw the position taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Russia-Ukraine conflict as mature as he conveyed his message of peace to the Russian President and at the same time tried to address the concerns of western powers.

Former Ambassador Zafar Hilaly praised the Prime Minister for taking a bold step by going ahead with his Moscow visit amid Russia-Ukraine tension, which turned into a full-fledged war hours after he had landed there.

Referring to Khan’s statement that Islamabad would no longer be taking sides with any bloc and establish its relations with countries keeping in view the national interest, Hilaly said even this desire of independent foreign policy would be seen as shifting to another bloc.

Shamshad Ahmad, however, said that Pakistan had done this kind of balancing act in the past successfully as it maintained close ties with China as well as the United States. “China always supported and encouraged Pakistan to maintain good relations with Washington and the Western powers.”

However, some analysts believe that Washington could not be that generous towards Pakistan as it is already mounting pressure on Islamabad on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and, given its escalation of tensions with Russia now, it won’t look at Imran Khan’s visit positively.

Shamshad Ahmad said that the United States had provoked Putin. “Remember the Cuban missile crisis… the United States was ready to start a World War saying that its security was threatened because of the missiles of the former Soviet Union in Cuba. Now Russia has the same security concerns as NATO, eyed to deploy troops right on the Russian border.”

But as tensions escalated between the US-led NATO and Russia, Prime Minister Minister Imran Khan remained engaged in consultation with the members of his delegation and officials of the Foreign Office back home to set a course for his one-on-one meeting with Putin. “The Prime Minister had his eyes on the evolving situation where the United States and other western countries slapped sanctions on Russia,” said one foreign ministry official.

Zafar Hilaly said that Pakistan should watch its own interests as building and expanding relations with Russia could be more beneficial for Pakistan. “The United States and West only exploited Islamabad for their own interests. Pakistan was badly used by them. Now Pakistan should pursue an independent foreign policy.”

The handout issued by the Prime Minister’s Office after the meeting on Thursday said that the two leaders held wide-ranging consultations on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. “The Prime Minister underscored Pakistan’s commitment to [forging] a long-term, multi-dimensional relationship with Russia.”

“Recalling the telephone conversations during the recent months between the two leaders, the prime minister expressed confidence that the positive trajectory of bilateral relations will continue to move forward in the future,” the handout said.

One major issue, according to diplomatic observers, that figured prominently during Imran Khan’s meeting with Putin was Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and Russia have direct stakes in Afghanistan and have been working together for the past several years to stabilize this war-torn country. Addressing Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis and preventing a potential economic meltdown figured out prominently in the talks, according to Pakistani official sources.

“The prime minister reiterated that Pakistan would continue to work with the international community for a stable, peaceful and connected Afghanistan. In this regard, he underscored the ongoing cooperation and coordination between Pakistan and Russia at various international and regional fora, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation,” the official statement said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also highlighted the gross human rights violations by India in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and underscored the need for a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Russia and India have a long history of economic and defence cooperation, but Imran Khan managed to present Pakistan’s case forcefully and highlight the issues detrimental to regional peace and stability, sources said.

Diplomatic sources say that the Imran Khan-Putin meeting has laid the foundations from which bilateral relations between the two countries can be strengthened and expanded on firmer ground. The economic cooperation provides huge potential for both the countries. In this regard, a follow-up visit of the Russian President to Pakistan is likely to take place sooner than later, they said.