May 25, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Undersecretary of State John Bolton met with his Russian counterpart today to continue to try to persuade Russia to join its anti-proliferation efforts. RIA Novosti reports that Bolton denied any “strategic” differences between Russia and the US on proliferation, and in particular that neither side wants Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
But if it is true that Russia does not want Iran to acquire such weapons, they have a funny way of showing it, as Russia continues with its helping Iran develop a nuclear reactor program.
The May 20 edition of Itar-TASS news agency reports that Russia may finally be coming around to support the U.S. Proliferation Security Initiative, to stop the flow of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destrution. Bolton predicted in his visit that Russia would join at the end of May, the first anniversary of Bush’s beginning the PSI.
At the same time, Russia’s control of its own WMDs remains problematic. On May 20, Interfax cited Nikolay Patrushev, head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that terrorists could gain possession of loose Russian nuclear weapons, as well as other WMDs. Patrushev spoke at the third international conference of heads of special services, security bodies and law agencies, saying that, “One must now acknowledge that the activities of the antiterrorist coalition have so far failed to yield the expected results.”
(Article)
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia
