MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied the P
akistani media reports about ‘secret negotiations’ between the two countries regarding cooperation on the China-P
akistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC) project.
Reports claiming that the Russian spy chief visited P
akistan in order to in
spect the Gwadar port and that P
akistan had formally authorised Russia to join the project – on the spy chief’s request.
“The P
akistani media reports about secret negotiations between Russia and P
akistan on the implementation of projects as part o
f the China-P
akistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC) are not true to the
facts,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.
“Moscow is not discussing the possibility of joining this project [CPEC] with Islamabad,” the statement added.
“Russia-P
akistan trade and economic cooperation has its own inherent value and we intend to strengthen it by implementing business projects including the planned construction o
f the North-South gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore – on a bilateral basis,” the statement concluded.