By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC correspondent in Moscow

The President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf has wrapped up his visit to Moscow, the first by a Pakistani leader in 33 years.

He hailed it as the start of a new chapter in the Russian-Pakistani relations.

Russia is well-placed to play a key role in the resolution of disputes and improving relations between India and Pakistan President Musharraf

President Musharraf told the press in Moscow that Russia and Pakistan have decided to re-start their relationship with a clean slate and leave everything negative behind.

The two countries' relations have been strained ever since the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, when Pakistan became a base for the Mujahideen resistance.

But even before that, Russia's friendship with India - Pakistan's arch-rival - was viewed with suspicion in Islamabad.

Weak link

Recently, Moscow has been worried that Islamic rebels in Pakistan might have joined hands with the Chechen rebels.

Pakistan was seen as the weakest link in the international coalition against terror, a concern now shared by Washington.

The 1971 war caused a rift with Moscow

At a news conference in Moscow on Thursday President Musharraf was asked to comment on the US Secretary of State Colin Powell's allegations that Iraq had been using its embassy in Pakistan for contacts with al-Qaeda.

"We don't have any information or intelligence on this," President Musharraf said. "We need to analyse whatever information (Powell) has."

The Pakistani leader said he had assured President Putin that Islamabad would not, "allow its territory to be used by anyone for any kind of terrorist activity inside or outside Pakistan."

He added that he viewed the Chechen war as Russia's internal matter.

Best wishes

The Russian President chose to use diplomatic language to press home the need for Pakistan to do more in the fight against extremism.

"We wish President Musharraf success in fulfilling all the obligations that his country undertook in the anti-terror coalition," President Putin said.

The driving force behind Pakistan's rapprochement with Russia appears to be the need to resolve the bitter dispute with India over the Kashmir region.

Putin: Wishes Pakistan success

"Russia, with its long relations with India and now improving relations with Pakistan is most well-placed to play a key role in the resolution of disputes and improving relations between India and Pakistan," President Musharraf said.

"...obviously, the focal point is Kashmir but we did not get involved in the methodology of its resolution," he added.

The Russian leader takes the credit for defusing a crisis over Kashmir last year when India and Pakistan deployed a million troops along their border in tense stand-off.

Historic links

Moscow has a history of mediating between the two; with variable success.

In 1966, after a bloody war over Kashmir, the then Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin facilitated the meeting of the Indian and Pakistani leaders in Tashkent in Central Asia.

They agreed to solve the conflict peacefully.

But in the 1970s, the animosity between the two took the upper hand and the Soviet Union sided with India.

Now, with a fresh start in the Russian-Pakistani relations President Putin maintains that this new partnerships should not jeopardise Russia's relations with its established friend, India.

As President Musharraf arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, President Putin made a phone call to the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to reassure him that India's strategic partnership with Moscow would not suffer as a result.

But in line with its new pragmatic foreign policy Russia is looking to diversify its regional contacts and widen business opportunities.

This is especially the case as the World's only superpower is too busy with Iraq to pay attention to anything else.