Russia signs tank production deal with Pakistan

Russia's top battle tank plant on Sunday signed a production deal with Pakistan, a day after the country's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The 'tank production' deal between Uralvagonzavod plant and Islamabad was signed on the sidelines of "UralArmsExpo" exhibition in Nizhny Tagil in the Sverdlovsk region, Itar-Tass reported quoting an official of local defence industries.

"We can say that tank-production contracts between Uralvagonzavod and Pakistan have been clinched," director of the union of regional defence industry Viktor Batuyev was quoted as saying by the agency without giving any details.

After his talks with  Lavrov yesterday, Kasuri said both Moscow and Islamabad had ageed to upgrade their bilateral relations, while the Russian Foreign Minister said no concrete defence cooperation plans were discussed by them.

Earlier Nizhny Tagil -based Uralvagonzavod -- world's largest tank production facility -- has supplied over 300 T-90S main battle tanks to India to restore the imbalance created by the sale of T-80UD tanks to Pakistan by Ukraine.