Russia hesitant to seize materials terrorists desire

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Russia is reluctant to join an 11-nation U.S.-led effort to seize illegal shipments of nuclear and other proliferation materials that could fall in the hands of terrorists, senior U.S. officials said yesterday.

Even though discussions are still in their initial stage, the officials said the Russians are not yet convinced of the legality and merits of the plan, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and proposed by President Bush in the spring.

"They are not ready to join the process," a senior State Department official who asked not to be named told reporters. "They are interested but are raising a lot of questions."

Russia, which has a big navy despite its decline since the Soviet Union's collapse more than a decade ago, would be an "important player" in the PSI, the official said.

"It would add political weight as one of the founding member of nonproliferation regime," he said.

The PSI, which Mr. Bush put forth in a speech during a European trip, is designed to intercept on the high seas shipments of illicit arms and other proliferation materials from states and other actors Washington regards as supporters of international terrorism.

In addition to the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Australia joined the effort.

Singapore has recently expressed an interest in being part of the process and invited John Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security who oversees the PSI's implementation, to visit the tiny state this week.

Russia, which was not invited to be among the initial members and to which the PSI was not even mentioned in a substantive way until President Vladimir Putin met with Mr. Bush at Camp David in September, might have felt left out, some administration officials said.

"We haven't had real discussions with the Russians yet, and I don't think their position is solid and firm, so I wouldn't describe the picture as gloomy," one official said in reference to Moscow's joining the PSI in the future.

"Russia is part of the problem and part of the solution," the official added, in a hint of the country's questionable proliferation behavior following the decline of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet collapse, sensitive technology and unemployed scientists from Russia are believed to have been used for some other nation's nuclear programs.

"It's no secret that we have imposed sanctions on Russian companies and individuals," the official said.

Several U.S. officials said the Bush administration did not reach out to Moscow at the beginning of the PSI process, choosing instead to engage like-minded countries on proliferation issues.

The United States has also accused Russia of helping Iran's nuclear program, which both Tehran and Moscow insist is only for peaceful purposes.