ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected a report claiming that it sold arms and ammunition to Ukraine in order to secure a crucial bailout package from the IMF. Foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Monday rejected as “baseless and fabricated” the Intercept report saying that cash-strapped country provided the arms to get US support to clinch the $3 billion IMF deal towards the end of June to avoid default.
“The IMF standby arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous,” Dawn News quoted Baloch as saying. Baloch said Pakistan maintained a policy of “strict neutrality” in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and did not provide them any arms or ammunition in that context.
During a visit to Pakistan in July, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba had rejected similar reports that the cash-strapped country was supplying arms to Ukraine to support its military during the ongoing conflict with Russia, according to Dawn. He had said that the two nations had no deal for the supply of arms and ammunition.