Watch: Shehbaz Sharif tells Putin he’s "perfectly fine" with India-Russia ties, but adds Pakistan also wants…

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday (2 September) that Pakistan respects Russia’s close relations with India, calling them “perfectly fine,” during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

Sharif emphasised that Pakistan too is keen to strengthen its partnership with Russia. “We also want to build very strong relations, which would be supplementary and complementary to the progress and prosperity of the region,” he said. The Pakistani premier praised Putin as a “very dynamic leader” and expressed his readiness to work closely with him.

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Both leaders are in Beijing to attend a major Chinese military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War. On the sidelines, President Putin also held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, as part of a flurry of high-level diplomatic engagements.

The Sharif-Putin meeting comes shortly after an awkward exchange at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, where Sharif was filmed hastily following the Russian leader in an attempt to shake his hand as Putin walked alongside China’s Xi Jinping following the group photograph.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 25th SCO Heads of State Council Summit on Monday, underlining that terrorism threatens not only individual countries but the whole of humanity. Modi stressed that “double standards” in tackling terrorism would no longer be acceptable.

Referring to the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, Modi said the country had borne the brunt of terrorism for over four decades. He expressed gratitude to partner nations that have consistently supported New Delhi in its fight against extremism.