We study multiplicity correlations of hadrons in forward and backward hemispheres in pp inelastic interactions at energies 200 GeV ≤ √ s ≤ 13 TeV within the microscopic quark-gluon string model. The model correctly describes (i) the almost linear dependence of average multiplicity in one hemisphere on the particle multiplicity in other hemisphere in the center-of-mass frame; (ii) the increase of the slope parameter b corr with rising collision energy; (iii) the quick falloff of the correlation strength with increase of the midrapidity gap; (iv) saturation of the forward-backward correlations at very high multiplicities. Investigation of the sub-processes on partonic level reveals that these features can be attributed to short-range partonic correlations within a single string and superposition of several sub-processes containing different numbers of soft and hard Pomerons with different mean multiplicities. If the number of Pomerons in the event is fixed, no forward-backward correlations are observed. Predictions are made for the top LHC energy √ s = 13 TeV.