PM Imran Khan lands in Russia for two-day visit

• Russian military presents guard of honour to PM Imran on his arrival.
  
• PM Imran Khan to be in Russia from February 23-24.
• PM to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb 24.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday landed in Moscow for a two-day visit — from February 23-24 — to push for the construction of a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies, an official said.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov received the prime minister at the airport, while the Russian military presented a guard of honour to him.

The premier and his delegation will undergo a coronavirus test, while he will commence his activities at 11am tomorrow (Thursday).

PM Imran Khan's trip to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss issues including economic cooperation comes hours after a number of Western nations hit Russia with new sanctions for its military deployment into parts of eastern Ukraine.

PM's itinerary (Feb 24)

• 1pm — Wreath laying at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier
• 3 pm — Luncheon with President Putin
• 5:30 pm — Interview with Mikhail Gusman (TASS)
• 6 pm — Call on by deputy prime minister
• 6:45 pm — Interaction with Pakistani Media
• 8:30 pm — Meeting with businessmen
• 10pm — Visit to Islamic Center
• 11:30 pm — Departure

During his meeting with Putin, PM Imran Khan will push for the construction of a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies, an official told Reuters.

"Both countries are eager to launch the project at the earliest," Pakistan's energy ministry spokesman told Reuters about the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline. He confirmed that Energy Minister Hammad Azhar is accompanying Khan on the visit.

The 1,100 km (683 mile)-long pipeline, also known as the North-South gas pipeline, was initially agreed to in 2015 and was to be financed by both Moscow and Islamabad, using a Russian company to construct it.

Read more: Putin, Imran to discuss bilateral cooperation, developments in South Asia

In an interview ahead of his trip, PM Imran Khan had expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine and the possibility of new sanctions and their effect on Islamabad's budding cooperation with Moscow.

It is unclear how the latest sanctions will affect the project, which would deliver imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from Karachi on the Arabian Sea coast to power plants in Punjab.

The project is important for Pakistan — particularly the power sector — as the country's dependence on imported LNG grows in the face of dwindling indigenous gas supplies.

The pipeline project has already suffered delays because of earlier sanctions.

"This North-South pipeline suffered, one of the reasons...was the companies we were negotiating with, turned out that US had applied sanctions on them," Khan told Russia Today on Tuesday.

"So, the problem was to get a company that wasn’t sanctioned," he said of the project.

— Additional input from Reuters