Azeri Ambassador Denies Nuclear Smuggling Rumors


Abstract Number:	20000420
Headline:	Azeri Ambassador Denies Nuclear Smuggling Rumors
Date:	17 June 2000
Bibliography:	FBIS Document GMP20000617000008
Author:	Azerbaijani Envoy to Saudi Denies Reports on Smuggling Nuclear Weapons
Orig. Src.:	Umar al-Zubaydi
Case:
Material:
Abstract: In an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Dr. Aylman Arasli, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Saudi Arabia, denied rumors that Azerbaijan is involved in the smuggling of nuclear weapons and warheads to 'some Arab and Islamic countries in the Middle East.' Arasli claimed that even in the days of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was free of weapons of mass destruction. The article did not specify the source of the rumors, nor did it say to which countries Azerbaijan was rumored to be selling nuclear weapons. [According to available open-source information, there are no nuclear weapons in Azerbaijan.]

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