FLORENCE. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will not disclose when and where it may launch a preventive strike as part of the fight against international terrorism, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference in Florence on Friday.
"We have never said and will never say where, when and against which state we may launch a preventive strike," Ivanov said.
"This issue (Russia's possible preventive strike - Interfax) has been routinely referred to by the Georgian authorities. Although we have never mentioned Georgia as a target of such a strike, this persistence on behalf of Georgia prompts me to recall a famous Russian proverb: he that commits a fault thinks everyone speaks of it," the minister said.
"Russia has repeatedly stated that it retains the right to carry out a preventive strike. This position of Russia is also confirmed by a resolution the UN Security Council adopted after the Beslan tragedy," Ivanov said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told a recent international conference that he "recognizes the right to launch preventive strikes to counter terrorism," the minister said.