Twenty More Countries Can Develop Weapons of Mass Destruction

MosNews
Jun. 30, 2006

Besides five universally recognized nuclear powers (Russia, the U.S., China, Great Britain, France), plus India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, which claim to have weapons of mass destruction but which have not been recognized, another 20 countries of the world have the potential to develop weapons of mass destruction, Sergei Ivanov, Russian Defense Minister, told a press conference Friday.

Ivanov, quoted by RBC internet daily, said the situation regarding proliferation of mass destruction weapons was complicated because of the ambitions of some countries to possess such weapons and to have the potential to develop them.

He also stressed that some states, as well as certain organizations, above all terrorist groups, “are attempting to gain access to sensitive technologies and products by any means, and sometimes they succeed in this.”

Ivanov had earlier told the news conference that all industrialized and some developing countries were capable of producing biological and chemical weapons.