Russia

Russia appears to be taking steps to deepen its relationship with Pakistan. The commander-in-chief of the Russian Army,


 Oleg Salyukov, recently announced that Russian ground forces would hold their first-ever military drills with Pakistan during 2016, in what is being billed as ;
special drills in mountainous terrain.” Prior to this, Russia had waved its embargo on arms supplies to Pakistan in June 2014 and signed a bilateral defense cooperation agreement with Pakistan in November 2014/
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Arguably, these latest moves were only designed to strengthen military-to-military relations between Russia and Pakistan and put things in order for establishing stronger ties in the future. That is why it was no surprise to see a defense deal for Russia to send Mi-35 Hind E helicopters to Pakistan'
 However, there was also Pakistan’s invitation to President Putin for the inauguration of a pipeline worth more than $2 billion that would extend from Karachi to Lahore. Furthermorep,
 Islamabad is looking for a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union to nurture strong cooperation in commerce and trade.