WASHINGTON: US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price has asserted that the United States was aware of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Moscow, saying that it had communicated its position regarding Russia’s “renewed invasion of Ukraine” to Pakistan.
He was responding to a question during a briefing about how the US saw Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Russia amid tensions between Moscow and Ukraine.
Saying the US was “certainly aware” of the trip, the spokesperson said, “We believe it’s the responsibility of every responsible country around the world to voice concern, to voice objection to what Putin appears to have in mind for Ukraine.”
“We’ve communicated to Pakistan our position regarding Russia’s further renewed invasion of Ukraine, and we have briefed them on our efforts to pursue diplomacy over war,” Price said, according to a transcript available on the State Department website.
Price said the US viewed its longstanding partnership and cooperation with Pakistan as critical to America’s interests. “We certainly hope, when it comes to those shared interests, that every country around the world would make that point clearly in unambiguous language in their engagements with the Russian Federation,” he added.
When asked whether the US believed PM Imran’s visit was an “indirect endorsement” of Putin, Price said the reporter would have to ask the Pakistani government what its intent was. “I’m just not in a position to offer an assessment on the timing of foreign counterparts’ travel to another country,” he added.
Prime Minister Imran arrived in Russia late on Wednesday on a two-day visit to push for the construction of a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies.
The prime minister’s trip to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss issues including economic cooperation came hours after a number of Western nations hit Russia with new sanctions for its military deployment into parts of eastern Ukraine.
In an interview ahead of his trip, PM Imran had expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine and the possibility of new sanctions and their effect on Islamabad’s budding cooperation with Moscow.
On Thursday, Russian President Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine with explosions heard soon after in the capital and other parts of the country, prompting outrage from US President Joe Biden who warned of a “catastrophic loss of life”.
