‘Always Room for More Military Cooperation’ Between Russia and Pakistan: Defense Secretary

The Russian capital is hosting an international security conference on Tuesday within the auspices of the ongoing ARMY-2022 military forum and expo. Senior defense officials from Russia, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa Syria and other nations are taking part in the event.

Islamabad is interested in multilateralism on the world stage, and believes there's always more room for security cooperation with Russia, Pakistani Defense Secretary Mian Hilal Hussain has told Sputnik.

“You see, our country is a developing country and it has a lot of hopes with multilateralism,” Hussain explained in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Moscow Conference on International Security on Tuesday.

“And the most important forum, a multilateral forum from our point of view, is the United Nations. We want the United Nations’ scope to be enhanced. We want its credibility to be restored, to go and solve regional problems in a credible manner. So, we have a lot of hopes with the United Nations, and this forum is a very important forum. It gives us a platform to express our views about multilateralism,” Hussain said.

The defense secretary has attended the Moscow security conference for two years running now, and his country has been participating in the event regularly since 2014.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the type of topics which are discussed here, the kind of audience that we get here where we can get our message across,” Hussain said.

“This is a very important conference. It provides us with a priceless opportunity where we get to interact with diverse audiences, delegations, and we listen to a number of opinions. And this topic, which is about multilateralism [at] the international level, it holds a special place for us in Pakistan,” he emphasized.

'Always Room for More Military Cooperation'

Pakistan and India joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) political, economic and security bloc in 2018, with Russian President Vladimir Putin welcoming the new members and expressing hope that they would use the organization “for in-depth work both in a multilateral format and to resolve bilateral issues.”

Moscow and Islamabad signed a defense cooperation agreement in 2014, have engaged in regular joint drills, and have signed multiple contracts for the purchase of Russian defense hardware ranging from small arms and anti-tank and anti-air systems to Mi-35 attack helicopters.

“There’s always room for more military cooperation. If you’ve been following our military relationship, there has been an upward trajectory,” Hussain, who is also a lieutenant-general (ret.) in the Pakistani Army, told Sputnik.

“We regularly come here, our delegations come here, our teams come here and participate in various sports. And we are exchanging officers for training, and we are learning a lot from the Russian Army,” the officer said.

Asked by his interviewer what he makes of unsavory reporting about the Russian Army which occasionally makes its way into media reporting, and to share his views on the Russian military, Hussain emphasized that Pakistan “hold[s] the Russian Army in great respect” and considers it “a very professional army.”

“Fake news these days is about every subject in every media. And the good thing about fake news is that it has a very small shelf life, so it automatically evaporates. So [among] serious audiences in the world, nobody pays attention to fake news,” Hussain said.