Energy starved Pakistan has been claiming to obtain a package from Russia for nearly a year without any concrete result. The recent exercise that Pakistan claims will result in a deal after March may not yield any concrete and tangible result, ET has reliably learnt.
Pakistan has been battling a balance of payment crisis with foreign exchange reserves falling to $4.6 billion, barely enough to cover three weeks of imports – mostly for oil. The key elements of the “proposed deal” were not agreed upon during the visit of the Russian Minister and rather discussions focused on conceptual issues of energy deal, ET has learnt.
A Ministerial visit from Pakistan to Moscow late last year and recent visit by a Russian Minister to Islamabad have so far remained exploratory in nature with Russia refusing to commit Pakistan discounted oil at the rate it has offered to India citing its commitment supply to big buyers.
During a visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister to the USA last month he made a U-turn saying Islamabad is not pursuing discounted oil from Moscow, ET had then reported.
Moscow on the other hand remains wary of Pak-based terror groups spreading its network in Eurasia impacting its national security interests, highly placed sources told ET. Pakistan-based terror infrastructure can lead to spread of extremism and radical views in Central Asia and beyond into Russia, an issue closely followed by the Russian government.
Russia has emerged as the biggest oil supplier to India in the last few months. The much-hyped oil pipeline that Pakistan had hoped to construct with Russian assistance is also in limbo. Earlier Imran Khan during his premiership had also failed to concretise the pipeline. Besides Russia has been keen to back India’s Chabahar port in Iran as part of regional connectivity initiatives in Eurasia and support India’s moves to link Chabahar with INSTC.
Russia has agreed to invest in establishing logistic hubs to increase transit capacity, especially in Iran’s Shahid Rajaei and Chabahar ports, eyeing the Indian and South East Asian markets, ET had reported last month.
New Delhi has been pushing to link the Chabahar Port with INSTC as viable transport corridors in the Eurasian region amid China’s push to make the Belt and Road Initiative an attractive proposition.
