Russian military accuses US of hypocrisy

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10358095

02.12.05 10.20am


MOSCOW - A top Russian military official accused the United States of fomenting trouble among Russia's ex-Soviet allies and hypocrisy in its dealings with Iran and North Korea.

General Yuri Baluyevsky, head of the general staff, singled out joint US and Russian action to fight international terrorism as an area in which cooperation was working well.

But, using unusually sharp language, he told a news conference that there were several areas where relations between the two former superpower rivals had now cooled.

Washington's policy towards Iran in particular, he said, was hypocritical.

"The United States demands full transparency in the nuclear programmes of countries (like) North Korea and Iran. But on the other hand it closes its eyes to the fact that Israel has already for a long time...possessed an impressive nuclear weapons arsenal," Baluyevsky said.