- (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said
he had seen no evidence supporting US President George W. Bush's charges
of weapons proliferation against so-called "axis of evil" powers
Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
-
- "So far we don't have evidence of this,"
Kasyanov
said following a White House meeting with Vice President Dick
Cheney.
-
- He said Moscow was behind efforts to strengthen
cooperation
with the United States in the interests of world security but suggested
the two countries also work together "in verifying different potential
dangers if any would come."
-
- Bush in his State of the Union address of Tuesday and
in subsequent speeches has railed against the three countries for allegedly
seeking weapons of mass destruction that could fall into the hands of
terrorists.
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- Kassyanov, asked directly whether Iran, Iraq and North
Korea constituted a threat to world peace, said "that is what we would
have to verify."
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- The prime minister, who travels to New York to take part
in the World Economic Forum over the weekend, returns to Washington next
week for a meeting with Bush.
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- On Thursday, he and US Secretary of State Colin Powell
signed documents expanding an existing legal cooperation pact enhancing
their ability to combat terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and cyber
crime.
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- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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