Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay a two-day official visit to Russia on February 23 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
This is the first visit to Russia by a Pakistani leader in 23 years, a significant one given President Putin’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Mr Khan is said to have been invited to the trip in a telephone conversation between the two leaders before the Ukraine crisis.<\/p>\n
“During the meeting, the two leaders will discuss bilateral relations as well as cooperation in energy projects,” a statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n
Pakistani officials said the issue of Afghanistan would also be discussed during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Mr Khan’s visit is expected to focus on economic and trade issues, but experts say it also has a political message.<\/p>\n
Experts say it could also send a message that Pakistan may be trying to join the anti-Western coalition.<\/p>\n
Pakistani officials say they also have good relations with Ukraine, and the impact of Mr Khan’s visit cannot be underestimated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay a two-day official visit to Russia on February 23 at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[318,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n