http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050630/40820247.html
An interview with Andrei Kokoshin on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and efforts to combat terrorism 13:06 Q: What do you think about the resumption of six-party negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program? A: It seems that the efforts of the "quintet", i.e. Russia, China, the USA, Japan and the South Korea, could return North Korea to the negotiating table. It seems we are close to achieving that today. The "quintet" must approach the North Korean issue taking into account its security interests as well as the economic development interests, when firmly insisting that it maintain the nuclear non- proliferation regime. Russia and China seem to share this approach and it is important that other states of the "quintet" consistently adhere to it as well. Ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction is in fact one of the top international security priorities of each of the six countries. We must not overburden it with other issues such as human rights and democracy, although they are naturally very important as well. If we try to solve all these problems at once, we risk solving none. Q: How would you assess the fight against the international terrorism? How significant is the terrorist threat for Russia? What are the chances of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction? A: The threat of international terrorism remains very high, whereas the level of international cooperation is far below what is needed to combat this threat. The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan remain complicated and tense. The U.S. Department of Defense announced recently that it was not intending to reduce its military contingent in Iraq. The threat of terrorism remains highly significant both for Russia and other former Soviet republics. However, our law-enforcement bodies and security services have achieved some serious successes in this sphere within the last 12-18 months. This issue is particularly important in Central Asia and in the Southern Caucasus. There is ample evidence that terrorists in various countries are trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction. Preventing this must be a constant care of international cooperation, particularly between Russia and the United States. In accordance with the decision made by the president and the Security Council, Russia held within last eighteen months a number of complex exercises at various nuclear facilities to increase the level of protection. The exercises involved forces of the Federal Security Service, Interior Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry and other departments. Q.: How would you assess U.S.-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism? A.: The threat of terrorism is formidable, and our common achievements have so far been too small to provide an adequate response to this terrible problem. This is why there is still plenty of room for deepening and expanding our cooperation with the U.S. in this area. I firmly believe that unless there is adequate Russian- U.S. interaction, the global community as a whole will not be able to cooperate effectively. We should promote Russian-U.S. cooperation in a number of areas and in several formats - bilaterally, within the UN Counter Terrorism Committee, and in contacts between NATO, where the U.S. plays the leading role, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), where the lead role belongs to Russia. Unfortunately, the CSTO initiatives to establish such interaction have not so far received the support from the West they deserve, and this seems completely counter-productive. Russia and the U.S. must go the extra mile also because they have both promised the international community that they will create what Harvard Professor Graham T. Allison recently called "a grand alliance against nuclear terrorism." Of paramount importance, too, are joint efforts by the U.S. and Russia, NATO and the CSTO to deal with the situation in Afghanistan, which has again become a cause of growing concern for Russia and fellow CSTO members. I think that we Russians and our CSTO partners have a better understanding of developments in that region than our Western partners in the international anti-terror coalition. Nikolai Patrushev, the director of Russia's Federal Security Service, recently made what I see as a very important trip to the U.S., as a result of which some tangible progress has been made in U.S.-Russian anti-terror efforts. Q.: How serious do you think is the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program to the non-proliferation regime? What is Russia's official position on the issue and how does the State Duma [the lower house of parliament] feel about it? A.: Russia has a clear and consistent position on the nuclear non- proliferation problem with regard to Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphatically expressed his negative attitude to [the prospect of] Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. This attitude is shared by the vast majority of the legislators both in the State Duma and the Federation Council [the upper house of parliament]. And Russia has already done a great deal in this area in practical terms. Just one example is the agreement on the return of nuclear waste from Bushehr [a nuclear power plant being built by Russian experts in Iran]. As far as I know, this has been duly appreciated, including publicly by the U.S. administration. I can say with certainty it is thanks to Russia that in the past two years or eighteen months, the Iranian nuclear engineering development program has become much more transparent to the international community, including to the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog]. Q: What are the most promising spheres of the Russian-U.S. cooperation against nuclear terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction? There are many spheres. One of them is the joint development of low enriched uranium fuel for Russian and U.S.-made research reactors to replace highly enriched uranium fuel used in other countries. Terrorists are known to be highly interested in highly enriched uranium. There are dozens of these reactors around the world and, according to experts, their security is sometimes not maintained at the due level. Accordingly, the implementation of the Russian-U.S. statement on nuclear security cooperation, which Vladimir Putin and George Bush signed in Bratislava on June 24, 2005, and the work of a relevant bilateral high-level interdepartmental group are becoming increasingly important. Russia and the United States are developing nuclear security interaction and should share this experience with third countries. Our countries have been cooperating against the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction since Soviet times. This cooperation has both achievements and problems, and needs more intensive efforts. Bio-terrorism and bio-security remain a serious problem. Unfortunately, Russia and the U.S. have not achieved any great success in this sphere and this is not Russia's fault. Andrei Kokoshin is a former secretary of the Russian Security Council, and is currently the chairman of the State Duma's committee for CIS affairs and Russian diaspora relations. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
