NEW DELHI, June 6: Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this evening spoke to Russian President Boris Yeltsin for the third time in the last three weeks, in an effort to explain India's positions on the global non-proliferation regime and Kashmir.The 30-minute conversation over the hotline between Moscow and New Delhi was, interestingly, interpreted differently by the Kremlin news service in Moscow and official sources here.While the Kremlin said Yeltsin urged India to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) and offered "possible forms" of direct mediation in arranging a dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad, official sources said Vajpayee "rejected outright" any proposals for mediation in any form. The conversation comes in the wake of the P5 communique in Geneva two days ago where Russia is said to have stood up to Western attempts to turn the heat on the Kashmir dispute. Subsequently, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov also issued a separate statement saying Moscow would abide by theShimla agreement formulation on bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.The Yeltsin-Vajpayee dialogue has taken place at a time when the Security Council is meeting in an extraordinary session in New York to discuss South Asia. A much tougher resolution castigating India (and Pakistan) on the non-proliferation front and Kashmir is expected.Ministry sources said if such a resolution was actually passed, it would be for the first time in 33 years, since the 1965 war, that India would be named in a Security Council resolution. The foreign office was in extended meetings tonight, formulating strategy on how to respond.Vajpayee and Yeltsin meanwhile agreed to intensify cooperation between both countries and the Prime Minister reiterated the invitation to Yeltsin to visit New Delhi later this year. The Russian president ``assured him the visit was on,'' UNI said.But according to the Kremlin press service, Yeltsin was deeply concerned over the recent nuclear tests by both India and Pakistan and saidtheir rivalry undermined the global non-proliferation regime and set an ``extremely dangerous'' precedent for the spread of such weapons.India also needed to take ``further positive steps'' in this regard, Yeltsin said. India's readiness to participate in a disarmament conference in Geneva was greatly appreciated, the Kremlin added, and that Yeltsin was satisfied that India would not conduct any more tests.Give up: PakMilking the recent P-5 communique to drum up support for his government's stand on Kashmir, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today invited Atal Behari Vajpayee to discuss the issue of arms race but said: "New Delhi could not continue its control over Kashmir any longer." Alleging that India had taken a "highly aggressive stance after the nuclear tests as the tone of Indian leadership completely changed," Sharif said the Kashmir problem "is now a challenge."
