Dushanbe - The Russian armed forces chief of staff, Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, said yesterday that Moscow would not take part in any military action in Afghanistan in the aftermath of attacks on the United States.
Last week, the Russian Defence Minister, Mr Sergei Ivanov, ruled out any prospect of NATO using ex-Soviet Central Asian states for retaliatory attacks and Mr Kvashnin himself strongly implied that Russian participation in any attack was unlikely.
