The Hindu : International / India & World : `Pakistan must do more to curb cross-border terror'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 09, 2004

International

International - India & World

`Pakistan must do more to curb cross-border terror'

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, AUG. 8 . Russia's new Ambassador to India, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, has urged Pakistan to do more to curb cross-border terrorism, even as he noted positive shifts in India-Pakistan relations resulting in a drop in terrorist infiltrations into Jammu and Kashmir.

"We believe that Pakistan must intensify relentless and consistent efforts to curb the infiltration of terrorists across the Line of Control and eliminate all terrorist infrastructure on the territory under its control," Mr. Trubnikov said.

In his first interview to the press after last week's appointment as Russia's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to India, Mr. Trubnikov told The Hindu that Russia was ready to help Delhi and Islamabad further improve their relations "in as far as this is acceptable to both sides."

"I think that active Russian-Indian and Russian-Pakistani cooperation on the anti-terrorist agenda will help strengthen the security of our countries and remove many irritants between India and Pakistan that international terrorism nurtures and exploits for destructive purposes," he said.

An indologist

"Continued pursuit of political dialogue between the two countries, further confidence-building measures and the development of business, scientific, cultural and sports ties should create the necessary conditions for reducing the threat of terrorism in South Asia."

Like the outgoing Russian Ambassador, Alexander Kadakin, Mr. Trubnikov, 60, is a trained Indologist and is fluent in Hindi and English.

He spent many years in India as an officer of the Soviet-era KGB foreign intelligence and for five years headed the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, SRV, until his appointment as First Deputy Foreign Minister in 2000.

The new Russian Ambassador has vowed to cement strategic partnership between the two countries and upgrade the Russia-India-China triangle.

Describing Indo-Russian relations as "unique" and a priority for both countries, Mr. Trubnikov praised the high-level political interaction between India and Russia but cautioned against complacency as the two countries faced new threats and challenges to their security in the increasingly interdependent world.

"It is up to Russia and India to jointly uphold their shared views on key international and regional issues, whether it is to strengthen the key role of the United Nations in today's security configurations, tackle the nuclear threat or douse fires in conflict zones," Mr. Trubnikov said.

Trilateral cooperation

"We intend to further strengthen constructive interaction with India to promote regional cooperation in Asia and build a more fair multipolar world."

Mr. Trubnikov is a strong supporter of trilateral cooperation between Russia, India and China. He expressed confidence that the three nations "can do a lot together to strengthen international peace and security and share close positions on many global issues," such as a multipolar world order, rejection of unilateralism and diktat in international relations, on Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism, religious extremism and drug trafficking. ``We are also striving to develop triangular trade and economic ties and are working on various joint economic projects," Mr. Trubnikov said.

"We think trilateral cooperation in the energy sphere has good prospects and I expect progress here in the near future."

Priority tasks

Mr. Trubnikov, who coordinated anti-terror efforts as the First Deputy Foreign Minister and co-chaired the Indo-Russian working group on new global challenges, said the ongoing escalation of terrorism dictated the need for closer interaction between India and Russia in opposing this threat.

"One of priority tasks for Russian and Indian diplomacy is to build an international basis for combating terrorism, including the adoption at the United Nations of the India-moved Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism and the Convention against Acts of Nuclear Terrorism proposed by Russia," he said.

Moscow will welcome India's accession to the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) led by Russia and China, the Russian envoy said.

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