20 January 2003 00:00
ON RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY VLADIMIR RUSHAILO'S TALKS WITH INDIAN DEFENSE MINISTER GEORGE FERNANDES
On January 17 Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Vladimir Rushailo met in the Kremlin with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes.
The sides discussed a broad range of questions relating to the ensuring of international and regional security, and exchanged opinions on the most pressing problems in world politics concerning in the first place the situation around Iraq, and the state of affairs in Afghanistan and South Asia.
Rushailo and Fernandes emphasized that cooperation between Russia and India has been consistently advancing on the basis of a concurrence of their long-term national and geopolitical interests and their common postions on key global and regional problems.
Touching on the situation around Iraq, the sides noted that Russia and India adhere on this issue to common positions, aimed at the maximum use of politico-diplomatic resources for solving the Iraq problem, first of all through the UN.
Rushailo stressed that the military option could turn into unpredictable consequences, and that therefore "the world community should not allow the establishment of mechanisms for solving complex problems vis-a-vis sovereign states by the use of force."
The Russian Security Council Secretary and the Indian Defense Minister exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and South Asia.
Speaking of the settlement of Indian-Pakistan relations, Rushailo emphasized that solving the Kashmir issue is the exceptional prerogative of India and Pakistan. The Secretary of the Security Council noted, furthermore, that Russia shares the demands of India that Islamabad should fulfill the obligations it has assumed for putting an end to the penetration of Kashmir militants through the Line of Control, as well as for liquidating the terrorist infrastructure in the Pakistani-held part of Kashmir.
In the course of the meeting the sides also discussed questions pertaining to the struggle against international terrorism, cross-border organized crime and the drug business.
Special emphasis was laid on countering the Afghan drug threat, the overall strategy for international combating of which, in the sides' view, should rest both on the adoption of measures coordinated with the Afghan authorities for restriction and subsequent complete eradication of opium poppy cultivation in the country, and on the bolstering of the external antidrug "security belts" along the perimeter of Afghanistan.
Rushailo and Fernandes touched on individual aspects of bilateral relations, including in the trade-and-economic sphere and the area of the development of military-technological cooperation between Russia and India, as well as of cooperation in personnel training for the armed forces.
Vladimir Rushailo noted the fruitful joint work of the apparatuses of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and National Security Council of India in different areas of the safeguarding of international and regional security.
Summing up the results of the talk, Rushailo emphasized that Russia is disposed toward developing its strategic partnership with India comprehensively, which meets the national security interests of our states and serves to reinforce peace in the present not simple situation.
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