NEW YORK: Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto defended former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's February travel to Russia, stating it was "wrong to blame Pakistan for such an innocent move."

The foreign minister was asked about the existing government's attitude on the "wave of discontent in the US and Europe for not criticising Russian incursion in Ukraine" during a news conference in New York. "I would undoubtedly support Pakistan's former prime leader," he responded, adding that Pakistan's Prime Minister had made the trip as part of his foreign policy "without knowing the conflict would begin."

Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, visited Moscow on February 3 as part of a two-day trip that coincided with rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Since Nawaz Sharif's visit to Russia in March 1999, he was the first prime minister to visit Russia on a bilateral basis.
Since then, the trip has sparked controversy, with Khan claiming that "foreign plot" was the basis for his resignation via a no-confidence motion in early April during anti-government rallies. According to Samaa TV, the former prime minister claims the "plot" was hatched because of Pakistan's liberal foreign policy.

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