‘How was I supposed to know?’ Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan defends his meeting with Putin on the same day that Russia invaded Ukraine
- Imran Khan visited Moscow on February 23 and 24 for sit-down talks with Putin
- Hours before they shook hands, Russian forces started shelling Ukraine
- Khan defended his actions, saying the meeting had been planned in advance
Imran Khan has defended meeting with Vladimir Putin on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, saying: ‘How the hell was I supposed to know?’
The ousted Pakistani prime minister went to Moscow on February 23 and held face-to-face talks with the Russian leader the following day and shook his hand, just hours after forces started shelling Ukraine.
Months later, the former cricketer turned politician was removed from office after losing a contentious no-confidence vote in his leadership.
Before their sit-down talks, Putin had been amassing an estimated 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, and he announced the independence of the Donbas and Luhansk republics, with an invasion expected imminently.
Forces had already entered the separatist regions by the time Putin formally announced the invasion on February 24.
Speaking to Sky News via video link from Peshawar on Monday, Khan said: ‘How the hell was I supposed to know that the day I landed in Moscow that Putin was going into Ukraine.
Imran Khan has defended meeting with Vladimir Putin on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, saying: ‘How the hell was I supposed to know?’
Khan added that the purpose of his Kremlin visit was to discuss bilateral agreements with Russia
‘I have never believed in military solutions, so never did I endorse that, ours was a bilateral meeting, it was planned long before.
‘I was elected by 220million people of Pakistan to serve them, my number one priority is, there are 50million Pakistanis below the poverty line.
‘I was not elected to correct all the wrongs that are going on in the world, my responsibility was my country.
‘All my relationships, whether it was with China, with the United States, with Russia, were for the benefit of our own people.
‘We didn’t realise that when I would reach there Putin would go into Ukraine. How was I supposed to know and how can you be punished for that?’
Before their meeting on February 24, Putin had been amassing an estimated 100,000 troops on the border with an invasion imminently expected
Khan added that the purpose of his Kremlin visit was to discuss bilateral agreements with Russia.
Pakistan was criticised at the start of the war for failing to condemn Russia’s savage attacks on Ukraine.
The country regularly abstained on UN resolutions to denounce Russia, and a group of envoys slammed the country as ‘undemocratic’.
Khan said at the time that European countries had not censured India for its actions in Kashmir, a mountainous region over which Pakistan and India have fought two wars.
Khan defended his neutrality over Russia’s actions, saying his role as Prime Minister was to serve the people of Pakistan
He said: ‘We are friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp.’
Khan, now Pakistan’s top opposition leader, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April after some of his party’s lawmakers and a key coalition partner defected.
He has claimed that his ouster was a plot between the opposition and the United States.
Washington has denied allegations of any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics.
Khan has now warned the government to stage fresh elections or face mass protests, after leading thousands of supporters to the capital Islamabad in a showdown with his political rivals.
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