Russia considers Pakistan its principal nuclear threat

Describing Pakistan as the "principal" nuclear threat to Russia, an eminent foreign policy and security expert has claimed that Moscow would support any US endeavour to take away Islamabad's atomic weapons in case of any destabilisation in the Islamic nation.

"Russian authorities for many years have been indicating that Pakistan was a much more serious problem, both for nuclear proliferation and for nuclear terrorism, than Iran," Alexei Arbatov, chairman of the Non-Proliferation Programme of Carnegie Moscow Centre, said at a recent seminar here.

"Russia has been living already for more than a decade within reach of Pakistani nuclear missiles and without any means to defend against them. So Russia considered and considers Pakistan to be the principal threat from the point of view of nuclear proliferation," he said.

Arbatov was a member of the Russian Parliament from 1994 to 2003 and deputy chairman of the Defence Committee. Author of several books, he is also a member of the Advisory Council to the foreign minister and heads a panel on strategic planning for the Scientific Board of the Security Council of Russian Federation.

Referring to the improving Indo-US ties in the last few years, Arbatov said Russia would not try to do a similar thing with Pakistan, as is being said in certain quarters, to counter the coming together of India and the US.

"That does not command any respect or any support. That's -- of the few things of which I'm sure that Russia will not do such a U-turn," he asserted.

"I think that Russia would support whatever may be done to stabilise Pakistan, to have some precautions and some tentative planning to take away Pakistani nuclear weapons, one way or the other, if the country becomes totally destabilised," Arbatov said.

However, he said "India and Iran would be much more important American partners in dealing with the situation of Pakistan and China".