January 15, 2002
'36'
INDO-RUSSIAN JOINT COORDINATION GROUPS ON TERRORISM AND SECURITY MEET
The meetings of the Indo-Russian Joint Coordination Groups on Terrorism and on International & Regional Security issues were held in New Delhi on 14th & 15th January, 2002. The two Joint coordination Groups were set up under the Indo-Russian protocol of Cooperation between the National Security Councils of the two countries. The Russian delegations were respectively led by Mr. Oleg Chernov, Deputy Secretary, Russian Security Council and Mr. Nikolai Uspensky, Head of the International Security Department of the Russian Security Council. The Indian delegations were headed by Shri S.D. Pradhan and Shri Arvind Gupta, Joint Secretaries, in the national Security Council Secretariat.
Mr. Oleg Chernov also called on Shri Omar Abdullah, Minister of State, External Affairs and Shri Brajesh Mishra, National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. During his call on the former, Mr. Chernov strongly condemned the December 13th terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament and there was complete congruity of the two sides on the need to vigorously combat terrorism. During his call on Shri Mishra, Mr. Chernov handed over a letter addressed to him from his counterpart Mr. Rushailo. Both sides discussed, inter alia, the emerging strategic scenario in the world in the light of recent developments.
Discussions were held in a warm and cordial atmosphere and covered the entire gamut of issues pertaining to the regional and global security environment. The Joint Coordination Group on International Terrorism focussed on the nature and modus operandi of terrorist groups active in Russia and India as well as their cross border and international linkages. Both sides had a complete identity of views on the manner in which terrorism should be combated and towards this end it was agreed that cooperation between them should further intensified through more regular interaction and that specialised groups would be set up by both sides to better deal with WMD terrorism and Cyber Terrorism.