Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin criticized American law enforcement agencies on Tuesday for breaking up an what they described as a Russian espionage ring in the United States, as other Russian officials questioned whether the arrests were intended to damage relations between the countries.

Mr. Putin, at a meeting with former President Bill Clinton, brought up the subject.

The international politics is increasingly revolving around the nuclear theme. A meltdown of the regime set by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was absolutely predictable. Due to its discriminatory character, the Treaty could not prevent the «horizontal proliferation», the process which turned Israel, India, Pakistan, N. Korea, and South Africa into nuclear-armed countries. There can be no universally acceptable explanation why some countries are entitled to possess nuclear weapons while others are not.

Asserting its global primacy, the US has dealt several severe blows to the non-proliferation regime.

The Russian Industry and Energy Ministry said that Russia, Greece and Bulgaria would sign the oil-pipeline agreement before the year is out. What is the purpose of this $700 million project? Talks began on the Burgas-Alexandrupolis oil pipeline 13 years ago. At that time, the concerned countries signed the relevant agreements on delivering oil by tanker to Burgas from Novorossiisk and other Black Sea ports. The Trans-Balkan pipeline was then to have pumped all the oil to the Greek port of Alexandrupolis. However, the project did not take off the ground back then because of plunging Russian oil output. The Russian oil industry has long since expanded production and exports to Europe. The project received a new lease on life when the officials involved recalled the Balkan alternative to the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.