The United States and Russia urged nations in Europe's top security and rights body on Wednesday not to be complacent about the threat of so-called doomsday weapons falling into the hands of extremist groups.
North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device last month and Iran's pursuit of a nuclear fuel programme in defiance of the United Nations has raised Western fears that either nation could pass on weapons-of-mass-destruction materials to militants.
The 56-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) met to weigh how to tighten enforcement of a 2004 UN Security Council resolution aimed at keeping weapons of mass destruction (WMD) away from "non-state actors".
The focus was on encouraging laggards, widely seen to be mainly states in ex-Soviet Central Asia with shaky security and close to chronic conflict zones like Afghanistan, to do more to match words of support for the resolution with deeds. Russia and leading Western states offered expertise to others needing to shore up anti-proliferation enforcement.
"A clear gap persists between the global consensus on the threat of WMD proliferation and national capacities and willingness to take decisive steps to prevent the threat," US envoy Gregory Schulte told the gathering in Vienna of European and Central Asian states, the United States and Canada.
Schulte projected an aerial map of Vienna on a screen to show the devastating effect of an explosion of a 10-kiloton, improvised nuclear bomb that could be assembled by militants.
"Some may consider the probability of nuclear terrorism to be fairly low ... But the consequences, were it to ravage any major city, (would mean) fundamental aspects of contemporary life - cross-border trade, international travel, financial markets and open borders - would come to a halt," he said.
Schulte said it was clear smuggling in illicit nuclear and radiological materials continues and perpetrators could exploit the same routes used for rampant drug and human trafficking.
"Terrorists are looking for the weakest links, whether poorly secured (nuclear or radiological) materials, an unguarded border or judicial system not suited to the threat," he said.
Russian envoy Mikhail Ulianov said Moscow had conducted 60 probes into illegal acquisition of WMD-related goods and cracked down on more than 30 suspect foreign firms and individuals. "OSCE nations present a positive picture as far as official export controls are concerned. But effectively some nations lag behind. There are no grounds for complacency," Ulianov said.
Schulte said the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, had logged 18 incidents of smuggling of plutonium and bomb-grade enriched uranium between 1993 and 2004.
"North Korea is prepared to sell just about every weapon or technology it produces to other countries. Iran has strong connections to various terror organisations," he said. Iran denies Western accusations of orchestrating terrorism and rejects US charges that it has a secret programme to build a nuclear bomb, saying it is only for electricity generation. Communist North Korea has sold missiles and military technology overseas, with Iran being among the biggest buyers.
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