The Foreign Office on Friday confirmed that Prime Minister Imran Khan would undertake what is seen as a landmark visit to Russia next week, bringing a turnaround in the relationship between the former two Cold-War rivals. At a weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar told reporters that the prime minister would visit Moscow at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This would be the first official bilateral visit by an elected prime minister in 23 years. In between, former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi did visit Russia but none of them was official bilateral trips. Read: Gas pipeline projects among PM’s Russia visit agendaThe visit will be closely watched by outside the country as well, particularly the US given the current crisis over Ukraine.

Source: The Express Tribune February 19, 2022 21:58 UTC