During the visit, the two countries reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen bilateral ties in diverse areas, including trade, commerce, investment, agriculture, and energy. 

The Russian delegation arrived in Pakistan soon after the SCO Summit which was held in Islamabad earlier this month. 

Previously, Pakistan and Russia have also conducted joint military drills, which have now become an annual feature of their military and defense cooperation. 

This year, Pakistan was also host to the Russian deputy Chief of Staff, during a visit paid on the eve of the SCO Summit. 

The Summit itself also featured the Russian Prime Minister, among other notable world leaders, while the Pakistani President met with Putin on the sidelines of a Summit in Ashgabad. 

Therefore, this year has seen a flurry of exchanges between Pakistani and Russian top leadership, signalling a deepening of Pak Russia relations.

These delegations have come at a time when Imran Khan remains incarcerated in prison, after his government was dismissed, allegedly at the US behest, after Imran Khan refused to cancel his visit to Russia on the eve of the Ukraine War. 

Furthermore, the regional security situation remains tense following rapidly unfolding events in the Middle East following the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh and Syed Hasan Nasrallah. 

The conflict has seen exchange of missile salvos between Iran and Israel, and has also contributed to a significant worsening of the internal security situation in Pakistan as well as Iran and Afghanistan. 

For its part, Pakistan and Iran were quick to defuse the tense situation along their borders, after the two sides attacked each other in missile strikes earlier this January, with the state visit of deceased President Raisi to Islamabad.

At the same time, Russia is keenly pursuing relations with the Afghan Taliban, recognizing them as an important ally in the war against the Islamic State in Afghanistan. 

Taken as a whole, Russian overtures in the region have helped bring Pakistan out of the diplomatic isolation it had been stuck in during the past several decades. 

The basis of this Pakistani return to the diplomatic forefront of regional politics has been the SCO platform, aided by healthy exchanges with their Russian counterparts. 

Thus, it is Russia, and not China that has played the dominant role in bringing Pakistan out of the dark shadows, where Pakistan was being accused of being a rogue state on the brink of collapse. 

While Pakistan has been quick to ask the Russians to help it gain membership in BRICS so as to further propel it on the global stage of world politics, the continued incarceration of Imran Khan sends all the wrong messages to Moscow and represents a stumbling block in the bilateral relations between the two countries.