The Hindu : Pak. nukes may fall into Al-Qaeda hands: Russia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 18, 2003

International

International

Pak. nukes may fall into Al-Qaeda hands: Russia

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW JAN. 17. Pakistan's nuclear arms may fall into the hands of the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov has said.

``The potential danger of this happening is there and members of the anti-terror coalition should step up coordination and strengthen control regimes to prevent terrorists from obtaining not only nuclear arms, but weapons of mass destruction,'' Mr. Ivanov said after talks with the visiting Defence Minister, George Fernandes, on Friday.

Without mentioning Pakistan by name the Russian defence chief said "a number of States would rather talk than do something about this problem". A day earlier, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow was concerned about the safety of Pakistani nuclear arms despite assurances from Islamabad. "Moscow has information that some Al-Qaeda outfits have reorganised and partially infiltrated into Pakistani territory," the Deputy Foreign Minister, Georgy Mamedov, said on Thursday at the end of one-day Russian-Pakistani consultations on strategic stability. "This is a cause for special concern in the light of Pakistan possessing nuclear weapons."

The fight against terrorism dominated the agenda of today's talks between the Defence Ministers of India and Russia. "We have exchanged information on the situation in Kashmir and Chechnya and discussed in detail developments in Afghanistan and in adjacent territories," Mr. Ivanov said.

"The fact that our views on issues of international security are close or identical goes to show that we are strategic partners in this crucial area as well," he told reporters.

Terrorism was a matter for mutual concern for India and Russia, Mr. Fernandes said. "We have a joint commitment to fight and defeat terrorism. We are partners in the global coalition against terrorism,'' he said. "The anti-terror war is likely to be fought over a long-long time and we face similar challenges and share similar perceptions in this war.'' Commenting on the work of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation, which concluded in Moscow today, Mr. Fernandes said the two sides had signed a protocol which covered "all major issues of procurement and related questions".

Mr. Fernandes described the protocol as a "landmark document". He did not give any details apart from mentioning that it envisaged India's involvement in the Russian programme for the development of a fifth-generation combat aircraft and plans to set up joint ventures in defence industry patterned after the Indo-Russia BrahMos company for the production and marketing of a supersonic cruise missile.

"We have succeeded in sorting out smoothly all issues that had to be ironed out,'' Mr. Fernandes said, without specifying whether the purchase of the Gorshkov aircraft carrier was among the issues resolved.

Mr. Ivanov said, in turn, that the two sides had discussed "big and serious plans" for defence cooperation between the two countries. "We are placing emphasis on developing high-end technologies and establishing service centres and knowledge-intensive joint ventures that will yield spin-off for both the defence and civilian sectors," he said.

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