US Unlikely to Influence Islamabad's Cooperation With Moscow

ISLAMABAD - The United States will not be able to influence Pakistan's readiness to further develop cooperation with Russia in all spheres, the former Pakistani foreign secretary, Riaz Khokhar said."Our relations with Russia have significantly improved and become very friendly. We are grateful to Russia for the help that it provides to us. [Russian] President Vladimir Putin is greatly appreciated and respected in Pakistan, and we are pleased that our relations with Russia have improved ... I do not think that the United States can influence Islamabad with regard to relations between Pakistan and Russia. Our relations with the United States are quite complex, they are characterized by constant leaps up and down," Khokhar said.According to the former diplomat, Pakistan would like to further develop economic cooperation with Russia, whose investment in Pakistan's economy is very much welcome.Khokhar added that the existing tensions between Russia and the European states had been largely caused by the US policy and expressed confidence that European leaders would seek to develop collaboration with Russia in the future.Khokhar served as the Pakistani foreign secretary from June 2002 to February 2005. Before taking the top post at the Foreign Ministry, he was Pakistan's ambassador to India, the United States and China.