COLORADO SPRINGS, USA. Oct 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov at the Thursday informal meeting with his NATO counterparts suggested working out common approaches to resistance to terrorism and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"I raised the question of the necessity of working out sooner or later common standards in resisting the spread of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism," he told a news conference in Colorado Springs after the meeting.
"There have been cases when several countries have not cooperated with Russia in resisting terrorism and not expelled persons involved in terrorist operations in Russian territory," Ivanov said.
He denied reports that Moscow is considering the possibility of delivering preventive strikes involving nuclear arms.
"The earlier media reports that Russia is considering preventive nuclear strikes are not true. Russia definitely reserves the right to the preventive use of armed force but nuclear weapons are out of the question," he stressed.
Ivanov said that Russia is considering the possibility of preventive use of armed force, including in CIS countries. "The CIS is a very important security sphere for Russia. Ten million Russians and ethnic Russians live in CIS countries. Russia delivers fuel to them at prices much below international," the minister added.