MOSCOW. Feb 10 (Interfax-AVN) - The Defense Ministry has said it is impossible that al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization could have acquired Russian nuclear weapons.
"All nuclear arms possessed by the Russian armed forces are in their proper places," First Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel General Yuri Baluyevsky told the press on Tuesday.
"Not a single nuclear warhead from the Russian armed forces has been sold to al-Qaeda or other organizations or has been stolen lately, recently, or a long time ago," Baluyevsky said.
In April 2004, Russia will conduct exercises related to the safe storage of its nuclear weapons, which NATO officials will be invited to attend, he said.
"The exercises will deal with the entire set of issues concerning the provision of safe storage for nuclear weapons. This problem is important not only for Russia, but for other nuclear states as well," Baluyevsky said.