ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday rejected the Intercept news story alleging sale of Pakistani weapons to Ukraine to get an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package for Pakistan.
Responding to media queries on the latest Intercept story, the Spokesperson Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, termed the story as baseless and fabricated.
She said: “the IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous”.
“Pakistan maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them. Pakistan’s defense exports are always accompanied with strict end user requirements”, she added.
It may be recalled that on July 20, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who arrived in Islamabad on a two-day official visit, had denied media reports claiming that Pakistan was supplying arms to Kyiv amid its ongoing conflict with Russia.
Addressing a joint news conference along with then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in the federal capital, Kuleba had said there was no arms supply agreement between Pakistan and Ukraine.
He also thanked Pakistan for supporting Ukraine’s stance on its sovereignty and security.
