Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Washington Monday that Washington and Moscow should identify "real dangers" rather than "imaginary" ones, referring to Washington's warning of an "axis of evil".
Speaking to reporters after White House talks with President George W. Bush, he said that he was responding to questions about Bush's remarks last week singling out Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "an axis of evil" and warning the three nations he accused of arming to threaten world peace that they could be targets of the US-led war on terrorism.
"We should provide evidence to each other and assure all others that those threats really exist," Kasyanov said.
Last Friday after talks with Vice President Dick Cheney, the Russian prime minister had already called on Washington to provide evidence that "axis of evil" including Iraq and Iran were threatening world peace.
Monday, Kasyanov emphasized the importance of US-Russian security cooperation.
"Our defense people, our intelligence people will exchange information and will deal with those issues so that we will be sure that we correctly identify all problems," he noted.
He said his talks here had helped prepare the ground for Bush's planned summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next May, aimed at achieving "another package of agreements which would demonstrate to the whole world that the United States and Russia already are permanent partners."
(China Daily Februray 5, 2002)
