Source: World Politics Review

Russia and Pakistan recently held high-level talks on militancy and nuclear proliferation, a sign of warming relations following lingering Cold War antagonism. In an e-mail interview, Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, discussed Russia-Pakistan relations.

WPR: What has been the nature of Russia-Pakistan bilateral relations historically?

Dmitri Trenin: For decades, Moscow's relations with Pakistan have been mostly a function of Russia's relations with two major powers, the United States and India. During the Cold War, Pakistan aligned itself firmly with Washington, while New Delhi leaned toward Moscow. As an illustration of this dynamic, Soviet-era maps represented the whole of Kashmir as belonging to India. It did not help that Moscow's relations with China strained to the point of border conflicts even as Pakistan found a new friend in Beijing.

The Soviet Union did reach out to Pakistan on several occasions. Soviet Prime Minister Aleksei Kosygin successfully mediated between India and Pakistan after their 1965-1966 war. Six years later, after another war between the two South Asian neighbors, Pakistani Prime Minster Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was invited to Moscow. A steel mill was also built in Karachi with Soviet technical assistance.

However, the Soviet-Pakistani relationship sank to its deepest low during the war that the Soviet Union waged in Afghanistan from 1979-1989. At the time, Pakistan was the principal base for the Afghan resistance to Soviet forces. Seen from Moscow, Pakistan was the enemy's backer, resource base and sanctuary.

The relationship has improved since the Soviet withdrawal. In 2002, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf paid a visit to Moscow, the first by a Pakistani head of state or government since Bhutto's trip 30 years earlier.

How has the current war in Afghanistan impacted relations?

Russia materially supports the U.S.-NATO war effort in Afghanistan by providing rail and air transit routes to the allies as well as some materiel and training to the Afghan government. The Northern Supply Route, which runs across Russia, complements NATO's Southern Route via Pakistan. As part of its regional outreach, and in anticipation of the eventual departure of Western forces, Russia has been organizing multilateral meetings with the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Along with India, Pakistan has been granted observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which Moscow co-runs, informally, with Beijing.

What are some of the other areas of mutual interest and potential conflict for Pakistan and Russia moving forward?

Russia cannot afford to ignore Pakistan, a nuclear power with a population that is larger than Russia's. Moscow has a major interest in Pakistan's internal stability and in the effective control by Pakistani authorities over the country's nuclear arsenal. Well before the A.Q. Khan affair, Moscow was raising the alarm over the Pakistani nuclear program and its proliferation potential. Russia is also seriously concerned about Pakistan-based training centers for radical Islamists, which produce militants who then engage in terrorist activities in Russia and Central Asia.

This does not mean Moscow is hostile toward Islamabad. The Soviet-Afghan war is history. Nevertheless, Russia still treats its ties with India as an absolute priority, and Moscow has yet to figure out how to deal with Pakistan without spoiling the relationship with New Delhi.

This interview originally appeared on World Politics Review.

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