US decided to punish 'disobedient' Imran Khan, says Russia

MOSCOW: Russian foreign ministry spoke for the first time since PM Imran Khan accused US of backing a move to oust him and said that all the developments before and after Pakistan PM’s Russia visit point to the fact that United States decided to “punish disobedient” Imran Khan for not canceling his February visit to the country.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that immediately after the announcement of the upcoming working visit of Imran Khan to Moscow on February 23-24 this year. The Americans and their Western associates began to exert rude pressure on the Prime Minister, demanding an ultimatum to cancel the trip. When he nevertheless came to us, US Deputy Secretary of State for South Asia D. Liu called the Pakistani ambassador in Washington and demanded that the visit be immediately interrupted, which was also rejected.

The statement further says that on March 7 this year. in a conversation with Pakistani Ambassador A. Majid, a high-ranking American official (presumably the same D. Liu) sharply condemned the balanced reaction of the Pakistani leadership to the events in Ukraine and made it clear that partnerships with the United States are possible only if Imran Khan is removed from power .

“The further development of the situation leaves no doubt that the United States decided to punish the disobedient Imran Khan: a group of deputies of the same party of the prime minister “suddenly” went over to the opposition and the question of a vote of no confidence in the head of government was immediately submitted to the parliament, the vote on which was scheduled for April 3,” reads the statement.

The Russian foreign ministry said that this “another attempt of shameless US interference in the internal affairs of an independent state for its own selfish purposes”.