ISN Security Watch
Thursday, 9 October 2003

Russia shares landmine info with Canadian ISAF troops
 
Moscow is prepared to provide intelligence to Canada to help avert 
attacks such as the land mine blast that killed two Canadian 
peacekeepers in Kabul last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei 
Ivanov said on Monday. Canada has around 2'000 soldiers in 
Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force. Ivanov, 
speaking after talks with Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum, 
said he was convinced there would be more attacks against Western 
troops in Afghanistan. "Russia is ready to cooperate in the broadest 
manner possible with Canada in this area, and this includes 
providing intelligence material about what is going on in 
Afghanistan, especially as regards possible preparations for new 
terrorist attacks," he told a news conference. "We have previously 
supplied such information," he added, but gave no details. The 
Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late 1979, sparking a bloody and 
destructive 10-year war. Moscow still pays very close attention to 
events in its southern neighbor. "My colleague has agreed that if 
Russia has information that may be useful regarding the security of 
our forces, then Russia will provide that information to us and I am 
very grateful for that," said McCallum. Ivanov bristled when asked 
whether the mine that blew up the Canadian jeep might originally 
have come from Russia. "The question now is not who supplied these 
weapons 20 or 30 years ago - they were supplied by many states, not 
just the Soviet Union - but who is using these weapons now to mount 
terrorist attacks," he said. (Reuters)