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Russia wants Kashmir resolved as per Simla agreement

Russia stands for the resolution of the Kashmir issue under the Simla agreement, Kremlin sources have made it explicitly clear.

They point out that President Boris Yeltsin, during his 1994 visit to New Delhi, had supported India's stand on the issue.

The so-called three-point plan put forward by Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov on the situation arising from the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan did not even mention Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Ria Novosti has quoted Primakov as having said that the Kremlin's concerns over the nuclear blasts were due to the fact that the world today ''abounds'' in extremist forces who are devoid of any sense of responsibility and often wore religious disguise. They were only anxious to lay their hands on the most destructive weapons.

Russia is against internationalising any bilateral issue and keeps in mind the experience of Yugoslavia and Iraq in this connection, sources said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Nesteryushkin, briefing the press last night, reaffirmed Russia's desire to prevent escalation of tension in the Indian subcontinent. He called upon both India and Pakistan to review their nuclear policies and join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without any condition.

Russian Minister for Nuclear Energy Yevgeni Adamov told the media yesterday that he did not believe other countries would now follow India and Pakistan and make ''practical move in the field of nuclear tests.''

Russia, the UN and International Atomic Energy Agency are trying to help stabilise the situation in South Asia, he said.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry of Byelorussia, the former Soviet republic, has called upon all the nuclear powers to assume an obligation not to deploy nuclear weapons on the territories of countries which have no nuclear weapons.

UNI

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