NIZHYNY TAGIL: Pakistan and Russia are in talks about the delivery of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and previously agreed upon delivery of Mi-35M helicopters, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister (FM) Sergei Ryabkov said. Earlier this year, a draft contract for the delivery of four Mi-35M Hind E combat helicopters was sent to Pakistan from Russia, a source in the Russian military and technical cooperation was quoted by the Russian news agency TASS. Increasing military cooperation between Islamabad and Moscow would not negatively impact Russia’s ties with India, Ryabkov said, adding that Pak-Russia ties were improving in other sectors as well ? including energy. Russian Deputy FM Ryabkov referred to Pakistan as Russia’s closest partner and said, “I do not think that the contacts under discussion will cause jealousy on the part of any of the two sides.” The twin-engine Su-35 is a fourth generation multi-role combat aircraft which also incorporates technology from fifth generation jets, according to details available on the Sukhoi company’s website. It is also said to be more agile as compared to previous models. Pakistan and Russia had signed a bilateral defence cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening military-to-military relations in November last year. The deal had to be followed by another “technical cooperation agreement” to pave the way for sale of defence equipment to Pakistan. With strained relations between Pakistan and India, it may not come as a surprise that the military expansion between Moscow and Islamabad could irk India. Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has said that talks pertaining to the delivery of helicopters were underway with the Pakistani side. However, declined to disclose the details of these consultations.