Pakistan rejects Russian senator’s remarks Ukraine sought Islamabad’s help to develop nukes

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday reacted sharply to Russian senator Igor Morozov’s statement that Pakistan and Ukraine had discussed technologies to create nuclear weapons, terming the remarks “unfounded and baseless” and calling upon Moscow to clarify them.
Morozov, a member of Russia’s Federation Council defense committee, said on Tuesday Ukrainian specialists traveled to Pakistan and received a delegation from Islamabad to discuss technologies for making nuclear weapons.
His remarks came during a press conference on the topic ‘Nuclear provocations in Ukraine: Who needs it?’
Russia and Ukraine have been embroiled in a war since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an invasion of the country in February. Thousands have since been killed and millions uprooted from their homes while the global economy has been disrupted.
Pakistan has tried to maintain a delicate balance with regards the conflict, not taking sides but offering to mediate and repeatedly called for de-escalation.
“We are surprised by such an unfounded and baseless statement,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in response to the senator’s comments.
Ahmad said the statement “is without any rationale” and inconsistent with the spirit of Pakistan-Russia relations: “We are seeking clarification on this from Moscow.”
In September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a bilateral meeting with Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Following the meeting, Sharif said he spoke to Putin about the availability of gas supplies for Pakistan and the Russian president had promised to “look into this.”
He also said Islamabad was looking to import wheat from Russia due to the devastation caused to wheat crops across the country by floods triggered by unusually intense monsoon rains this season.
This week Pakistan’s government approved a plan to buy 300,000 metric tons of wheat from Russia. The wheat was priced at $372 per ton and would be shipped between Nov. 1 and Jan. 15.