US Russia were concerned about Pak's nuclear weapons Declassified files business-standard com external-affairs-defence-security news us-russia-concerned-pakistan-nuclear-weapons-declassifiedfiles-125122600418_1 html Rishika Agarwal December 26 2025 Putin told Bush that uranium of Pakistani origin had been found in Iranian centrifuges pointing to possible illegal transfers Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo PTI 3 min read Last Updated Dec 26 2025 1 56 PM IST Former US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin were concerned about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons according to newly released documents from the US-based National Security Archive The documents made public following a Freedom of Information Act FOIA lawsuit contain verbatim records of meetings and phone conversations between the two leaders between 2001 and 2008 In one such document from 2001 both leaders agreed that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal was a serious concern Putin described Pakistan as being under military rule and lacking democratic 1 2 governance “I am concerned about Pakistan It is just a junta with nuclear weapons It is no democracy yet the West does not criticise it We should talk about it ” Putin said   ‘Don’t need religious nuts with nuclear weapons’ Bush In another document both leaders described Pakistan’s nuclear situation as making them “nervous ” They expressed fears that nuclear technology from Pakistan may have been secretly transferred to countries such as Iran and North Korea Putin told Bush that uranium of Pakistani origin had been found in Iranian centrifuges pointing to possible illegal transfers “They found uranium of Pakistani origin in the centrifuges It was of Pakistani origin That makes me nervous ” Putin said Bush acknowledged the issue replying “Yes the stuff the Iranians forgot to tell the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA about That’s a violation It makes us nervous too ” Bush also said he had raised these concerns with Pakistan’s then-President Pervez Musharraf While Pakistan had jailed nuclear scientist AQ Khan the US believed it was still not receiving complete information from Pakistani authorities “We don’t need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons ” Bush added ‘China could be a big problem’ During the same discussion Bush said “The threat is not a United States–Russia clash ” He added that Russia belonged to the West and was not an enemy “In 50 years China could become a big problem Russia’s interests lie with the West You should be like the West—rule of law entrepreneurship freedom of the press You have made some good choices like the flat tax law and I hope you keep it up ” Bush said Putin who at the time had a strong working relationship with Bush responded “I never considered you a threat even during the Cold War I agree and I wrote down what you said about China and 50 years We are watching carefully ” 2 2