Pakistan–Soviet Union relations

Pakistan and the Soviet Union had complex and tense relations. During the Cold War (1947–1991), Pakistan was a part of Western Bloc of the First World and a close ally of the United States.

The Soviets had opposed the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. In May 1948, Karachi and Moscow officially established relations and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, in 1949, invited Pakistani prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan to visit Moscow, though Khan instead visited the United States in May 1950. Following Khan's assassination, relations remained strained as Pakistan joined the anti-communist alliances SEATO in 1954 and CENTO in 1955. In the aftermath of the 1958 Pakistani military coup, military president Muhammad Ayub Khan significantly improved relations with the United States. The 1960 U-2 incident severely damaged relations, with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev officially threatening to drop a nuclear bomb on Peshawar. After Khrushchev's removal, Khan visited Moscow and negotiated peace with Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin. As a result, the Soviets remained neutral during the Second Kashmir War.

Khan's successor Yahya Khan, a pro-American dictator, presided over the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Soviets aided the Bengali nationalists and the India against Pakistan. After the Pakistani defeat, leadership passed to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In 1972, Bhutto visited Moscow and normalized relations. This resulted in Soviet assistance for construction of Pakistan Steel Mills and Guddu Thermal Power Station, and Pakistan's departure from SEATO and CENTO. The brief détente came to an end after the 1977 military coup by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. During the Soviet–Afghan War, Zia backed the Afghan mujahideen, funded by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with support from the Pakistan Army, which fought a proxy war against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in 1988, Zia was killed in an aircraft crash, alleged by many to be a Soviet-backed assassination.

After Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the Soviets offered Pakistan to install a commercial nuclear power plant, though Pakistan's prime minister Benazir Bhutto and then Nawaz Sharif showed little interest in aging Soviet technology. In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved and succeeded by the Russian Federation. Since then, Pakistan–Russia relations have been cooperative and friendly.