If Russia had joined the other three UNSC permanent members to propose Masood Azhar’s inclusion in the list of international terrorists it would have isolated China more dramatically. Ironically, while the US and UK especially, and to a lesser extent France, have, despite their traditional ties with Pakistan, moved to pressure Pakistan to curb its well-known terrorist figures, Russia with no such ties and a past victim of massive geo-strategic and physical blows at Pakistan’s hands in Afghanistan has stood apart.
This is not surprising because Russia has, even in joint statements with us, agreed to references to terrorism that exclude implicit finger-pointing at Pakistan. The October 2016 summit statement, for instance, omits any reference to cross-border terrorism, the Mumbai, Pathankot or Uri attacks, or even LeT and JeM. Russia’s reticence in directly condemning Pakistan’s promotion of terrorism precedes, in fact, the marked deterioration of its relations with the US and its more willing embrace of China in self-interest.
Despite its vulnerability to Islamic terrorism and the geopolitical necessity to prevent Islamic radicalism from spreading in Central Asia from the Af-Pak region, it has treated Pakistan with consideration. Under the Obama administration, Russia and the US have had harsh stand-offs in the UNSC.
