The diplomatic relations between the countries date back to May 1, 1948. Soon after that the then capital of Pakistan, Karachi, received a representative Soviet delegation. The year of 1949 witnessed the arrival of Pakistan's first Ambassador Shueb Qureshi to Moscow.

In 1961, Russia and Pakistan signed an Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation for oil and gas exploration. Simultaneously Moscow granted large credits on favorable terms. 

In the mid-1970s, Pakistan started constructing its largest metallurgical plant in Karachi with considerable involvement of the USSR.

A significant event in bilateral relations was signing of a Consular Convention between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1997.

Trade and economic cooperation is governed by the Intergovernmental Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation of April 20, 1999. 

Another milestone came in 2000 when the partners founded a Russian-Pakistani Intergovernmental Committee on Trade & Economic, Scientific & Research Cooperation. 

Russia and Pakistan also take advantage of multilateral organizations, particularly the SCO, to promote bilateral contacts. Their cooperation is focused mostly on fighting terrorism and drug trafficking.

Pakistan’s President has been to Russia several times already.

Contributing to bilateral relations is a Russian-Pakistani Intergovernmental Committee on Trade & Economic and Scientific & Technical Cooperation. It is focused on contacts in power industry and agriculture, as well as in the field of natural resources. In October 2015, Russia and Pakistan entered a large contract for construction of the North-South gas pipeline between Lahore and Karachi. The implementation of this project is assigned to Russia’s Rostec and Pakistan’s ISGS.

The militaries of both states are no strangers to cooperation either. September 2016 witnessed the first ever in the history of the Russian-Pakistani bilateral relations military exercise, dubbed Friendship-2016. 

Russia supplied Pakistan with Mi-171 transport helicopters, trucks, BTR-70 armored vehicles, T-82UD and T-90S tanks. Military and technical cooperation of Russia and Pakistan still have considerable potential. Another milestone in this area giving impetus to the bilateral relations is by all means the 2015 Contract for supply of Mi-35 Gunships with Troop Carrying Capacity.