Russia and Pakistan are rapidly strengthening their bilateral relations by expanding trade and economic cooperation, transport infrastructure, and regional connectivity.
The common attribute between Russia and Pakistan is that both sovereign states are pursuing an independent foreign policy. Likewise, both nations intend to and are fully committed to creating more action space in the growing multipolar world order. Hitherto, the positive thing is that both countries are willing to put aside their bitter history and move along in the new era with new hopes and fresh intentions. In this regard, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an indispensable multilateral platform that is greatly helping Russia and Pakistan to bridge the gap and minimize their bilateral fissures.
It is an open secret that both Russia and Pakistan have had a very strange bilateral history. It was rightly pointed out by Ms. Valentina Matviyenko, the Chairwoman/Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council of the Federal Assembly, that “Moscow and Islamabad have maintained dialogue even in the most challenging times.” And even today, besides the variety of their respective views on international relations, both countries are renewing their relations by improving connectivity and bilateral trade. For instance, the Russia-Pakistan bilateral trade has reached almost 1 billion USD in 2024, compared to only 400 million USD in 2010-2011. Likewise, Pakistan is keenly interested in the Russia-led North-South International Trade Corridor and is willing to enhance its partnership using the multilateral organizations like the BRICS.
Russia-Pakistan Ventures for Connectivity
It is true that the then Soviet Union greatly helped Pakistan in establishing Pakistan Steel Mills in Karachi, which was a symbol of friendship between the two countries. It is a welcome development that Russia and Pakistan have mutually agreed to establish a new steel mill in Pakistan. In May 2025, Russia’s Denis Nazaroof and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Mr. Haroon Akhtar Khan discussed establishing new steel mills. It is also equally important that both countries are discussing the gas pipeline called Stream Pakistan to be built from Karachi to the province of Punjab. It is to be remembered here that Pakistan needs a lot of energy to meet its domestic requirements, especially its textile industry.
Last year in September, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk visited Pakistan along with a high-powered delegation. The Deputy Prime Minister met high-level Pakistani officials including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir. Both sides signed a number of agreements, including the MoU between the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) and the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX). Another MoU was also signed on “Trade, Connectivity, and Other Areas of Mutual Cooperation.”
In October 2024, Mr. Abdul Aleem Khan, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Privatization, Investment, and Communications, visited Moscow and met Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk. The Deputy Prime Minister said, “We welcome Pakistan’s interest in the development of the North-South International Transport Corridor, which is becoming one of the most important trade routes in Eurasia, supporting better connectivity between countries of Northern Eurasia and the Global South.” And, Mr Aleem Khan said that “Pakistan views enhancing connectivity with Russia as a vital step towards expansion of bilateral trade.”
From October 27-29, 2024, Ms. Valentina Matviyenko, the Chairwoman/Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council of the Federal Assembly, led a special visit to Pakistan on the invitation of Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan. She addressed a special plenary session of the Senate of Pakistan and said that Russia is “committed to promoting Russia’s multifaceted cooperation with Pakistan and region-to-region ties.”
A lot of discussions were made in October 2024 on starting the freight train that could bring more connectivity between Moscow and Islamabad. Now, it has been reported that Russia and Pakistan are going to start the freight train from August 2025. A high-level Pakistani delegation visited Moscow in July 2025 led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi and SAPM on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan. Mr. Haroon Akhtar is also the focal person for the Pakistan Steel Mills, in which Russia intends to invest heavily. The Pakistani delegation met Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk and have mutually decided to start the freight train in August 2025. This is a huge development as both countries will be doing trade using trains and will be connected. The train will depart from Lahore and will pass through Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan and will eventually reach Russia.
Conclusions
It is rightly said that change is the only constant in international relations. The truest manifestation of this argument can be seen in the rapidly transforming bilateral relations of Russia and Pakistan. Both countries are improving their connectivity for trade, and in this process countries like Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan will also be connected with Russia as well as Pakistan.
For the development ventures to take place, it is very important to flourish connectivity. However, besides connectivity, both countries are actively working together on joint counter-terrorism mechanisms to curb the menace of terrorism and violent extremism. In this regard, the joint Druzhba exercises and SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) are very important instruments that likely will ensure that the connectivity endeavors may not go in vain.
Muhammad Ali Baig – is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI), Pakistan. He is a Ph.D. candidate and a distinguished graduate of National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan
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