I don't know that as Russia itself stated that there is no "Talk on SU-35" with Pakistan..
in fact we all know that "Pakistan can't afford SU-35" as it's Flyaway cost is some $65 mil and actual aircraft may costs well over $100 mil a piece(In fact,India itself bought late Su-30s at nearly $100 mil a piece)..There is a quite good reason why Pakistan choose JF-17 in the first place..They couldn't even buy J-10s which was their long term plan..
Russia has a very bad habit of leaking this kind of "Misinformation" to pressurize its customers..
read this..
Analysts Skeptical Over Pakistan-Russia Su-35 Negotiations
Thank you for your post.
I am not aware of any news that the Russian government has stated that there is no talks on Su-35.
If there is then kindly share the link to the source if possible.
However, what I am aware of is that the Russian ambassador to India stating that the news was an overstatement from news service and that there was unnecessary overreaction in certain portions of the media. And that Russia will never do anything that will threaten India's security.
Which is exactly what he was supposed to do. His job. Even the US ambassador to Pakistan sugar quotes matters when talking to press over here even when there was harsh language used from someone in the administration in Washington.
The point is the Russian ambassador was absolutely right. A few Sqds of SU-35S (IF true) will not threaten India's security. India is to soon embark on its MKI Super Sukhoi MLU program and it also has its PAK FA FGFA program. Furthermore 36 Rafales may also be coming soon. So ... nothing to worry about.
Talks did take place. No one knows what was discussed and how far it has progressed. It was certainly not initiated from the Pakistani side. They had most probably gone their for the modalities of the Mi-35 gunships deal. This SU-35 news item is speculative at best. Time will tell how this pans out. These things are usually long protracted processes and we should patiently wait and see what happens.
As for what Pakistan can or cannot afford is immaterial in this scenario. Try to think of it as a Russia China combo. They have found common strategic goals and interests vis-à-vis the west and are forming their policies and strategies accordingly. In different geographical theatres they are identifying their countries of interest which they think will help them attain their goals. In this region they have identified Pakistan. The US decision to have permanent bases in Afghanistan, WOT, US attempts at inroads to central Asian States, CPEC and Gwadar deep water port all contributing factors to this. Furthermore almost 50% of China's fossil fuel imports comes from the gulf and Saudi Arabia. Its a very long way from there to South China Sea. CPEC will pay huge dividends by cutting short that route and use Gwadar port and Pakistan's inland route called the Economic Corridor. It will also negate any attempt to blockade China's imports from the gulf to the South China Sea within the Indian Ocean region. Hence a build up in PN is also underway with probably 8 subs and 6 surface vessels on order from China. I may be off on the numbers here but I am mentioning this to just to make my point clearer. And most importantly Gwadar gives China a naval foothold in this region. Russia is a partner in Chinese interests. China is helping Russian economy by signing a deal for importing around 270B$ worth of fuel and nearly 400B$ worth of gas. Russia also sees possibilities in Gwadar and CPEC and is disturbed by the US attempts in the region.
In all this Pakistan will be required to function as the provider of the inland route and port facilities and safeguarding the maritime interests of itself and those of China (and indirectly Russia as well).
For this PN is already being built up (as mentioned above) and the Air force too needs extra muscle. How that muscle is going to come only time will tell. Now China can sell the J-11D/J-16 blah blah to Pakistan. But the rub here is that since these are primarily based on reverse engineered design ... there is an agreement between China and Russia that China won't sell those to another country. But if an SU-class fighter is required to provide maritime air defence in all this what would Russia prefer that China sell her stuff to Pakistan or would Russia want to get something out of it as well. Maybe that is what is going on. I don't know what is happening but if such a deal were to take place it would only make sense and take place as a tripartite Russia-China-Pakistan deal for the Su-35 ... with China providing the loans.
I may be wrong in my assessment but this is how I see it.