Moscow: Russia today (July 9, 2004) brushed aside Pakistan's contention that its Defence cooperation with India will create military imbalance in South Asia, saying that the relationship is based on the same principle as Islamabad has with other countries.

This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in response to a statement by his visiting Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri that the sale of Russian high-performance aircraft to India will create military disbalance in South Asia.

Russia, while involved in military-technical cooperation with India, always keeps in view that it should not create imbalance in the region, Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Kasuri.

"Our military-technical cooperation with India is based on the same principle as Pakistan has this type of cooperation with other countries," he said.

Responding to a question, he said no concrete plans of Defence cooperation with Pakistan were discussed during his talks with Kasuri.

Kasuri, who arrived here yesterday on a three-day visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, said that during his discussions with Lavrov, the two sides agreed to upgrade their relations.

"This upgradation will cover the underpinning and framework of our bilateral cooperation," he said.

Ahead of his talks with Lavrov, Kasuri said the relations between Pakistan and Russia "are developing successfully."

Pakistan wants to increase cooperation in the sphere of military technologies and equipment, Kasuri was quoted as saying by 'Itar-Tass' news agency.

Kasuri said that his country was hoping for successful negotiations with Moscow. "Islamabad understands that one need to look into the future and develop mutually beneficial cooperation."