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General: bin Laden dosen't have nukes

MOSCOW, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden doesn't have nuclear weapons -- but he could get them through his links in Pakistan's secret services, a senior official in Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Col. Gen. Igor Valynkin said the Defense Ministry "doesn't have the data proving that the al Qaida terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden possesses nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction."

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Valynkin, who heads the ministry's 12th Chief Directorate that oversees storage and maintenance of Russia's nuclear weapons, called bin Laden's statement in a Pakistani newspaper "complete nonsense."

Bin Laden, who the Bush administration says was behind the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, was asserting that the Taliban had nuclear weapons that would be used as a deterrent to halt the U.S.-led strikes on Afghan-based terrorists.

"Bin Laden doesn't have now and cannot have such weapons of Soviet, Russian or foreign origin," the general said.

But Valynkin pointed out that the possibility of the Taliban getting such weapons in the future from neighboring Pakistan should not be ruled out.

"Bin Laden has links with the secret services of Pakistan, a country that possesses nuclear weapons," said Valynkin. "Therefore, we must not at any rate rule out such development of events where bin Laden could receive nuclear weapons from Pakistan."

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