ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is in direct talks with Russia for the procurement ofsophisticated military hardware, including air defence systems, fighterjets and battle tanks, a media report said on Saturday.

Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan confirmed that Islamabad wasinterested in buying weapons from Moscow in an interview to the Russiannews agency Sputnik.

“Air defence system is a different kind of weapon we are interested. We arevery much interested in a very wide range of the Russian weaponstechnology. We are in negotiations [on air defence systems] and once weconclude negotiations, we will be able to announce them,” Khan said.

The defence minister also outlined that Islamabad was interested inacquiring T-90 tanks from Moscow as part of a long-term deal rather thancommitting itself to a single purchase. Interestingly, India also uses theT-90 tanks. As part of efforts to enhance its strike capability, the Armyis now working on a project to add more teeth to its T-90 main battle tanksby arming them with a third generation missile system. “We are interestedin tanks T-90 and it is not going to be a one-time purchase but it is goingto be a long-term commitment,” Khan was quoted as saying by the agency.

He added that negotiations for the purchase of Russian Su-35 fighter jetsare in their early stages, and an agreement in this regard may be reached”in the next few years”, according to the Russian website. The defenceminister noted that both Pakistan and Russia were interested in a stableand democratic Afghanistan