Latest geopolitical dynamics encouraged Moscow and Islamabad that stood in a tough opposition to each other in the 1980's over Afghanistan, "to mend fences", The Wall Street Journal said in an article published on Thursday.
"On Thursday, Pakistan said it would buy four Russian Mi-35 attack helicopters for an undisclosed price, after a spate of high-level visits between the two countries," the newspaper said.
It also recalled that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed hope of establishing a multidimensional relationship with Russia, which would encompass defence, trade and the energy sector, while attending Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Ufa earlier this summer.
"Pakistan has decided that although America will remain important, it must have other alternatives," said the diplomat, Zafar Hilaly.
A pipeline carrying imported natural gas from Karachi to Lahore is asymbol of the rising new relationship between Pakistan and Russia, the article said.The pipeline will help Pakistan cope with the current energy shortages.
The new pipeline is to be completed by 2018. It will be able to carry 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day. This is equivalent to about a half of Pakistan’s current gas production from its domestic fields.
"The Russian pipeline would represent Moscow's first major project in Pakistan since the early 1970s, when the Soviet Union helped build a steel mill in Karachi during a brief warming of relations that followed the election of a left-leaning leader in Islamabad," the WSJ said.
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