New Delhi: George Fernandes is not alone. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov too met the same fate at the hands of US immigration officials who had stripped him of his pants when they thought there was "something suspicious". But he is not complaining.

"At the New York airport, they stripped me of my pants. I think they suspected something suspicious," he said recalling his experience at a CII meeting in New Delhi today (Oct 9, 2004).

"But it was a minor humiliation before women there than getting blown up inside," he said while trying to justify stringent security measures at Russian airports. He said strict security measures were necessary in view of the terrorist threats. "Russia is a victim of terrorism. India knows the problems well itself."