Moscow: Russian military planners see Pakistan as a 'politically unstable nation locked in confrontation with its neighbour', which may pose a potential threat to the Russian Federation's security.

In a 131-page report presented by the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov at the meeting of the country's top military brass, on the map showing Russia's threat perceptions Pakistan has been depicted as a 'politically unstable' nation with nuclear weapons.

Afghanistan and US-occupied Iraq are also depicted as potential threats for Russia's security.

Presenting the latest military doctrine, Ivanov said that Russia reserves the right of 'preventive' military strikes to thwart threats to its own vital interests or of its allies, including the protection of crucial transport arteries, and stability in the neighbouring countries.

"Russia has virtually declared its right to intervene militarily in the affairs of other countries and has substantially lowered the threshold for the use of weapons of mass destruction in case of aggression," NTV channel said commenting on the new Russian military doctrine.

Even though the United Nations and its Security Council have been identified as the main mechanisms of global stability and security, the new Russian military doctrine virtually admits their "impotency" when it says that the Russian armed forces are the key factor for global stability.

Russian Defence Ministry has declared Europe, Middle East, West and Central Asia, and Asia-Pacific regions as the areas of Russia's strategic interests as in the West it faces the 'Euro-American' world, in the south - the Islamic world and in the east the vast Pacific region.

According to the various Russian media comments about the new doctrine, "the reforms of ex-Soviet armed forces are over and a new ambitious Russian army is born".

Members of Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), China and Central Asian nations are seen by Russian military planners as a stable zone.

However, in an obvious reference to China, they have expressed apprehensions that if the 'individual member states' of SCO start giving priority to their national agenda and policy over the collective course, it would foment ethnic strife and conflict among them and Russia may have to face the need for military intervention to safeguard its interests in the region.

PTI