Moscow: Pakistan and Russia are in talks about the delivery of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and previously agreed upon delivery of Mi-35M helicopters, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister (FM) Sergei Ryabkov said, Sputnik reported.
Earlier this year, a draft contract for the delivery of four Mi-35M 'Hind E' combat helicopters was sent to Pakistan from Russia, a source in the Russian military and technical cooperation was quoted by the Russian news agency TASS. Increasing military cooperation between Islamabad and Moscow would not negatively impact Russia's ties with India, Ryabkov said, adding that Pak-Russia ties were improving in other sectors as well, including energy.
The Russian Deputy FM Ryabkov referred to Pakistan as Russia's closest partner and said, "I do not think that the contacts under discussion will cause jealousy on the part of any of the two sides."
The twin-engine Sukhoi-35 is a fourth generation multi-role combat jet which also incorporates technology of the fifth generation jets, according to details available on the Sukhoi company's website. It is also said to be more agile as compared to previous models.
Pakistan and Russia had signed a bilateral defence cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening military-to-military relations in November last year. The deal had to be followed by another ‘technical cooperation agreement’ to pave the way for sale of defence equipment to Pakistan.
Just last year, Russia’s Rostec hi-tech corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov announced that Russia had lifted its embargo on the delivery of armaments and military hardware to Pakistan and was holding negotiations on the delivery of helicopters to the country.
