Russia has conferred Order of Friendship, a Medal for Courage in Salvation and a Medal for the Common Wealth in Rescue, to 10 officers and two soldiers of Pakistan army in recognition of their cooperation, commitment and audacity during search ans rescue operation at Latok-1 to rescue Russian Mountaineer Alexander Gukov from 20650 feet AMSL in July 2018, Trend reports citing Pakistan's Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency.
The medals were conferred by the Russian ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Dedov at Pakistan’s army general headquarters in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.
The Rescue mission, spanned over six days, was carried out by Pakistan Army Aviation under most hostile and challenging conditions.
Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador held a discussion with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed matters related to regional security and Pakistan-Russia bilateral cooperation.
The Russian ambassador also presented the Medal for the Common Wealth in Rescue and a Letter of Commendation of Russian Mountaineering Federation to the COAS.
Earlier the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accompanied by the Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Russian Federation on Dec. 25-26, 2018.
The foreign minister led detailed talks with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow on various bilateral and regional issues.