Russian, U.S. diplomats to discuss terrorism issues in Moscow
MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax) - The next session of the U.S.-Russia Working Group
on Counterterrorism will be held in Moscow on January 22- 23.
U.S. First Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will arrive in Moscow to
attend this meeting, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow told Interfax.
Russia will be represented in this meeting by First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav
Trubnikov.
Armitage will stay in Moscow until January 24, the embassy said. He will be accompanied
to Moscow by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones.
This will be the ninth meeting of the U.S.-Russia Working Group on Counterterrorism.
It was founded in 2000 by the presidents of Russia and the U.S. and its initial
purpose was to deal with threats coming from Afghanistan.
The group's mandate was considerably expanded at the Russian-U.S. summit held
in St. Petersburg in May 2002.
Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 14, 2003
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QUESTION: On the subject of travel, non-Secretarial, which there seems to
be quite a lot of these days, Deputy Secretary Armitage is heading to Moscow next
week?
MR. BOUCHER: That he is. That he is.
QUESTION: Can you explain why?
MR. BOUCHER: Maybe. I have some details somewhere. Yeah. Deputy Secretary Armitage
will be traveling to Moscow January 22 and 23 to attend the 9th Meeting of the
Counterterrorism Working Group which he co-chairs with Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Trubnikov.
The Working Group will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and other regions
that are coping with terrorism and instability, such as Central Asia, the
Caucasus, and the Middle East. They'll also discuss counterterrorism efforts
worldwide with a particular focus on combating nuclear, biological and chemical
terrorism. We had looked to see whether he couldn't make some other stops, particularly
Uzbekistan, but looks like he's not going to be able to do that on this trip,
so he'll be coming straight back to Washington after his meetings in Moscow.
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http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2003/16611.htm
Daily Press Briefing
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 13, 2003
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QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to Russia saying it will not continue talks
on letting the OSCE Mission remain in Chechnya? They've said they don't see any
chance to have any kind of talks with Western diplomats at the OSCE on this.
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to go back and look at that again. I -- we haven't had
an update in a few days.
Webauthor's comment: It seems that the "Caucasian issue", discussesd remarkably
on that high level, is seen exclusively in the context of counter-terrorism. Another
helpful encouragement by the western world to Russia in continuing on the line
of a "final solution" of the Chechen problem.