Written by Divya ANew Delhi | December 26, 2025 09:12 PM IST 2 min readRussian President Vladimir Putin had raised concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation during his talks with his US counterpart, George W Bush (Photo - Reuters)Newly declassified documents from the United States have revealed that Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation was a significant concern for both the US and Russia, with leaders expressing apprehensions about its stability over two decades ago.Russian President Vladimir Putin had raised concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation during his talks with his US counterpart, George W Bush, according to transcripts of the conversation recently released by the National Security Archive.During the first Putin-Bush meeting in Slovenia on June 16, 2001, Putin, according to the documents, voiced his worries and unease over the control of Islamabad’s atomic assets.According to a transcript, during a discussion on non-proliferation and Iran, Bush said, “We (the US) have a complex history with Iran” and Putin assured him that he would restrict missile technology to Iran.However, the Russian President adds, “I am concerned about Pakistan. It is just a junta with nuclear weapons. It is no democracy, yet the West makes no criticism of it.”Bush did not dispute Putin’s characterisation. The transcripts reveal that behind closed doors, both Washington and Moscow viewed Pakistan’s nuclear handling with suspicion. New Delhi had also repeatedly raised concerns about Islamabad’s nuclear proliferation, underscoring a shared anxiety around the world.In the short one-on-one meeting, the two leaders covered several important issues of US-Russian relations, including nonproliferation, Iran, North Korea and NATO expansion.Story continues below this adBush tells Putin, according to transcripts, that he believes Russia is “part of the West and not an enemy”.During another meeting four years later in 2005 at the Oval Office, the transcripts show that Putin told Bush that uranium discovered in Iranian centrifuges was of Pakistani origin. Bush agreed that the finding was alarming, calling it a violation and saying it made the US “nervous”, as per the transcripts. To which, Putin said, “Think about us,” highlighting Moscow’s concern about Russian security as well.Bush also told Putin he had personally raised the issue with then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The documents, released this week by the National Security Archive, follow a Freedom of Information lawsuit, and include verbatim records of meetings and calls between the two leaders from 2001 to 2008.Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:PakistanPutin