Islamabad, The Foreign Office on Monday strongly rejected a foreign media report claiming Pakistan was allegedly selling weapons to Ukraine to secure the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme.

In its ‘baseless and fabricated’ report, The Intercept — an online news organisation — claimed that Islamabad was secretly selling arms to Kyiv as part of its deal struck with the Washington-based lender.

“These arms sales were intended to supply the Ukrainian military, hence, forcing Pakistan to take a side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the report had claimed.

Responding to media queries about the false report, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch categorically rejected the story as “baseless and fabricated”.

“The IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous,” the spokesperson said.

She further said that Islamabad maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them.

“Pakistan’s defence exports are always accompanied by strict end-user requirements,” she added.