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Defence expert rules out sale of Russian arms to Pak

A top defence expert in Moscow has ruled out the sale of Russian arms to Pakistan and said India could expand the 'geography of military purchases' reducing dependency on Moscow.

"Russia will not sell arms to Pakistan," Ivan Safranchuk, a top analyst of independent 'PIR' think tank was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.

"India will try to further improve its relations with the United States and their allies, including by clinching contracts for conventional weapons," he added.

In this backdrop Safranchuk ruled out sale of Russian arms to Pakistan, reminding that in 1990s at several occasions such news were spread to pressurise India.

"Russia will not sell arms to Pakistan. India would block such deals, because she believes that she is not simply buying Russian arms as an end product, but also acting as partner in their development," Safranchuk said in a reference to Indian partnership in the development of Su-30MKI fighters and Krivak III class frigates and Brahmos cruise missiles.

Commenting on a recent article in Defense News weekly, which predicted that Russia could lose the status of India's largest arms supplier, Safranchuk said that the 'tendency of expansion of the geography of India's arms suppliers' could be foreseen, especially when the US was 'very unhappy' at certain forces in Pakistan.

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