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US, Russian FMs Agree to Coordinate Actions Against Terrorism
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday met his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov to discuss the terrorist attacks on the United States last week and the two countries agreed to coordinate their actions against the terrorism.
Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference with the Russian foreign minister after their lengthy talks at the State Department, Powell said he was pleased to receive from Ivanov expressions of condolence for those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon last week.
"We spoke about terrorism at considerable length," Powell said. "We had a good discussion of potential areas of cooperation as we go after this worldwide threat to civilization in a comprehensive campaign."
He said that "all elements of national and international power must be used, law enforcement, military activity, legal actions, financial actions, anything that can be used to get at these terrorist organizations; in the first instance, al Qaeda and Mr. Osama bin Laden, but ultimately, terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head."
For his part, Ivanov said Russia and the United States have agreed to "closely coordinate their actions" against terrorism.
"We will be coordinating our efforts within the framework of appropriate agencies, as well as within the framework of appropriate working groups that have already been established and that have already been working between the United States and Russia," Ivanov told reporters.
"There is no doubt that this crime, unprecedented in its scale, goes far beyond the borders of the United States. International terrorism has caused a blatant challenge to all civilized humanity, to all civilized world," Ivanov said.
"This reaffirms once again the urgent necessity to join efforts of the entire international community in the fight against new challenges and threats, including, in the first place, the threat of international terrorism," he said.
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