Israel, Russia to co-operate on Terrorism issues

[MKSheppard]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3027014a12,00.html

JERUSALEM: Days after a Russian school siege by Chechen separatists ended in a bloodbath, Israel and Russia signed a memorandum to co-operate in fighting international terrorism, an Israeli spokesman said.

"The terrorism that struck in Russia is exactly the same kind of terrorism that strikes us," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at this side.

Lavrov said terrorism could be stopped only through international co-operation. However, he was careful not to draw any direct parallel between Russia's conflict in Chechnya and nearly four years of bloodshed between Israel and Palestinians seeking a state, including militants dedicated to the Jewish state's destruction.

"Terrorism doesn't have any nationality," and is a "universal evil...that has no affiliation with any religion or nationality," Lavrov told reporters.

Israeli intelligence has a long track record monitoring Palestinian militants overseas and in areas occupied by the Jewish state in the 1967 war.

An Israeli spokesman said the memorandum Lavrov signed with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom aimed to "encourage in every possible way the development of broad bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation in fighting international terrorism".

At a news conference, Shalom proposed those efforts encompass "all areas," but did not elaborate.

Lavrov was also vague about the details of the agreement. "The specific issues will be resolved in Moscow," he replied when pressed by reporters.

In an interview with an Israeli newspaper last week, Lavrov said an Israeli-Russian anti-terrorism working group would be set up under the framework of the memorandum.

Lavrov called the siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, in which at least 335 hostages were killed, "an attack of international terrorism," perpetrated by a group seeking to "undermine the unity of the Russian population".

Israeli security experts said it was not immediately clear whether closer counter-terrorism ties with Russia would also improve intelligence cooperation, given Moscow's practice of treating domestic security as a strictly internal affair.

"The Russians are very standoffish and self-sufficient when it comes to their security apparatus," said Assaf Heffetz, a former Israeli special forces colonel and national police chief.

However, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Ephraim Michaeli, a former Israeli military attache to Russia said that as far as counter-terrorism expertise was concerned, "in the eyes of the Russians, we are a superpower like the United States".

An Israeli security source said Israel has been circumspect at times about security cooperation with Moscow, a sign of its concern over Russia's support for Iran's nuclear programme.

Shalom publicly appealed anew to Lavrov to help apply pressure "to prevent Iran's nuclear ambitions," a programme which Tehran says it is conducting for civilian purposes.

Lavrov replied that Russia's work with Iran "on the nuclear issue poses no specific threat" and is conducted along guidelines set by the International Atomic Energy Commission.