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)