ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
September 27, 2006 Wednesday

Lost n-weapons – potential source of terrorism – official

by Vladimir Zainetdinov, Tigran Liloyan

Nuclear weapons that were lost for this or that reason and may come
to international terrorists’ hands pose a potential threat to
security of the world community, the head of the CIS anti-terror
center, Boris Mylnikov, told a meeting of the CIS anti-terror
departments’ officials on Wednesday.

The meeting is held within the framework of the Atom-Anti-Terror-2006
exercise.

“Getting a nuclear device in their hands, terrorists will be able
even without standard triggering systems to create a primitive
makeshift nuclear explosive,” he said.

“The threat of such actions is quite real and we should take this
into account while planning joint counteraction measures,” Mylnikov
said.

The possibility of diversions at military and civil nuclear
facilitates remains real, he said.

According to expert estimates, there had been 150 incidents since the
middle of the 1960-s that increased the level of nuclear threat to
this or that degree, Mylnikov said.

During the ongoing exercise servicemen will drill how to attack
terrorists at nuclear power plants.

“Such exercises at nuclear power facilities will be held in the CIS
for the first time,” Mylnikov said.

The military units of the Armenian Armed Force from the CSTO’s
collective rapid deployment forces will master their skills in such
an exercise for the first time.

Special services of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan will not
take part.

Armenia invited observers from special services of the G8, the
anti-terror department of the OSCE secretariat, UN Security Council
counter-terrorism committee, the UN office on Drugs and Crime and
regional anti-terror structure of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization.

The United States, Greece, France, China and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe have confirmed their
participation.

The anti-terror exercise in the CIS has been held for the sixth time.
Last time Kazakhstan’s Aktau on the Caspian Sea hosted the exercise.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress