Pak-Russian ties

 Pakistan and the Russian Federation officials held delegation-level talks in Islamabad, expressing their desire to maintain bilateral, political, economic, and defense dialogue with each other, and to cooperate in all areas of mutual interest. 

Thanking Russia for supporting Pakistan's bid to join the BRICS economic forum, Pakistan affirmed its desire to continue coordinating with Russia on multilateral fora including at the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 

With bilateral trade standing at a paltry USD 1 billion, talks focused on removing logistical bottlenecks and improving connectivity between the two nations through road and rail links. 

Russia emphasized integrating its own North-South Transport Corridor, which runs from Moscow, through Azerbaijan and Iran, and into Mumbai, with the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to enhance volume of trade between the two nations and Central Asia. 

The vision calls for developing new trade routes in Iran and Afghanistan, while also exploiting existing rail and road links of signatory members of the Ashgabad Agreement, comprising Oman, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, India, and Pakistan. 

Russia also offered Pakistan a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Therefore, the main thrust of the talks centers around Pakistani integration into Eurasia, with the Caspian Sea serving as the fulcrum balancing Central Asia on one side, and the Black Sea on the other. 

Land routes on either side of the Caspian will shift the onus from the Russian Navy to its land forces and intelligence agencies, reducing the massive reliance it puts on India for policing its Eastern trade routes in the Indian Ocean. 

Sooner, rather than later, the Pak-Russia bilateral forum will have to be expanded to include both Turkey and Iran to give depth to the North-South Corridor by linking it to Eastern Europe, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. 

This will force Russia to reassess its security and defense pacts signed with friendly nations, including the CSTO, as it recalibrates and reassesses its own naval and maritime objectives, necessitating the redrawing of its naval doctrine. 

This, in turn, will also require revamping of its military doctrine, and its warfighting tactics and strategies, allowing for q much wider scope for its intelligence agencies to operate in areas of critical national interests. 

The Russians also held meetings with the COAS, resolving to strengthen security and defence cooperation in multiple domains.