Russia Threatens Pre-emptive Strikes Against Terrorists

Russia's top general said his country was ready to attack "terrorist bases" anywhere in the Caucasus, central Asia and other areas near Russia. According to Russian news agencies, Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky threatened pre-emptive strikes against organizations harboring terrorists.

"Our position on pre-emptive strikes has been stated before, but I will repeat it. We will take steps to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," he said after talks with US General James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe.

Baluyevsky admitted that "military steps are an extreme measure in the fight against terrorism," and said his country would not revert to the use of the country's massive nuclear arsenal. "This does not mean that we will resort to the use of nuclear force," he said in a statement that has perplexed many European observers.

A first for Moscow?

Embroiled in a five-year guerrilla war in rebel Chechnya, Moscow has frequently staged attacks against the break-away province, but outside its own borders Russia has been hesitant to carry out pre-emptive strikes against terrorists. So far it has only dropped a few bombs on the Panskisi Gorge in neighboring Georgia, where it suspects Chechen rebels are hiding and training.

It is therefore all the more surprising that Baluyevsky would make such statements, especially since President Vladimir Putin has not made any comments along the same lines since the hostage-taking crisis in a school in the Russian province of North Ossetia shocked the country and world a week ago.

A spokeswoman for EU External Relations Commissioner Emma Udwin said the threats would have more weight if coming from the Russian president. "I would pay more attention if it had come from Putin," she said when asked about Baluyevsky's remarks.

Kremlin adopts US policy?

The European Commission's chief spokesman, Reijo Kemppinen, also dismissed the comments, saying instead: "I think I've heard that kind of statement before. Not from Russia though."

Western analysts said Wednesday's remarks from Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyvsky carried echoes of the US doctrine in the "war on terror" of countering threats by launching first strikes, instead of waiting to be attacked.

On the other hand, Russia's sharply limited reach means the general's warning would apply in practice to former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia which Moscow still regards as its sphere of influence.

"In practice this doctrine can only apply to the countries adjacent to Russia which are not part of a global alliance," Jonathan Eyal, Russia analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Reuters wire service.

US-Russian cooperation

The Chief of Staff's statements came during the first visit to Russia by NATO's top commander. Jones, who stressed the two former Cold War foes had entered a new friendly relationship since the September 11 attacks in the United States, said the bond between Washington and Moscow had grown even stronger after the seizing of the school in the town of Beslan by terrorists.

"We face common threats and common challenges," Jones said. "We are entering a period of heightened cooperation against these threats and this is very, very important."

At least 336 civilians, including hundreds of children, died in the three-day school siege in the North Ossetian province which borders Chechnya. The American general referred to the hostage-taking as an "insidious attack."

Just like before the launch of the US-led strike against Afghanistan that Russia backed in October 2001 as a retaliation for the September 11 attacks staged by the Afghan-based al Qaeda terror network, the two generals said the Beslan attack should redouble the two sides' efforts to fight terror.

"Today international terrorism has become an international force, and only through joint action (with NATO) can we fight this scourge," Baluyevsky said.

The Russian general added that the two sides agreed to exchange information on terror cells around the world and to coordinate a rapid response team to fight them.