Pakistan's Nuclear Risk Worried Putin And Bush - A Concern India Has Long Raised | Declassified Transcripts

Concerns over Pakistan's nuclear programme were privately shared by both Washington and Moscow more than two decades ago, newly declassified US documents show. The revelations reinforce what India has

repeatedly flagged on the global stage.Transcripts released this week by the National Security Archive reveal that Russian President Vladimir Putin and then US president George W Bush discussed Pakistan's nuclear stability during multiple high-level meetings between 2001 and 2008.The records, made public following a Freedom of Information lawsuit, include verbatim conversations that shed light on behind-the-scenes unease over Islamabad's nuclear assets.During their first meeting in Slovenia on June 16, 2001, the two leaders held a short one-on-one discussion covering nonproliferation, Iran, North Korea and NATO expansion.At one point, Bush told Putin that he believed Russia was "part of the West and not an enemy", according to an Indian Express report.It was during a broader exchange on nonproliferation and Iran that Pakistan entered the conversation.According to the transcript, Bush said, "We (the US) have a complex history with Iran", prompting Putin to assure him that Russia would restrict missile technology transfers to Tehran.Putin then turned the focus to Islamabad, offering a blunt assessment. "I am concerned about Pakistan. It is just a junta with nuclear weapons. It is no democracy, yet the West makes no criticism of it," he said.Bush did not contest Putin's description. The transcripts suggest that both leaders viewed Pakistan's handling of nuclear weapons with suspicion, even if those concerns were rarely aired publicly at the time.India, for its part, had long raised alarms about Pakistan's nuclear proliferation, underlining that the unease was not limited to New Delhi.The documents also reveal that worries about Pakistan resurfaced years later. During a 2005 meeting at the Oval Office, Putin told Bush that uranium found in Iranian centrifuges was of Pakistani origin. Bush agreed that the discovery was troubling, calling it a violation and saying it made the US "nervous".Putin responded by urging Washington to consider Moscow's security concerns as well. "Think about us," he said, highlighting Russia's anxiety over the wider implications of nuclear leakage.According to the transcripts, Bush told Putin that he had personally raised the issue with then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, indicating that the matter had reached the highest levels of US engagement with Islamabad.