Russia sees security threats from Korean Peninsula, Iran, Afghanistan

Situations over the Korean Peninsula, Afghanistan and Iran pose direct security threats to Russia, head of the the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Anti-Terrorism Center said Monday."Everyone, perhaps, understands that all this bears direct threat for us," Andrei Novikov told a press conference in Moscow.He noted that a possible armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula would spread to the Russian territory "in no circumstances."Still, any armed confrontation around Iran would be much more dangerous for Russian security, he added."If there will be any strike against Iran, then naturally various geopolitical shifts in the South Caucasus will begin," Novikov said, adding the strike would create conditions for formation of various military-political threats for Russia.Similarly, Novikov said withdrawal of NATO-led troops from Afghanistan would change the balance of power in Central Asia."In effect, the development of the situation in Afghanistan in 2014 and beyond will be a sort of trigger for possible destabilization of the entire Central Asia. This worries us and makes us to create and implement special collective and national-level measures," he said.NATO's International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) plan to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.Novikov also pointed out "scores of nationals of the CIS countries" were fighting in the Syrian domestic conflict.Special services have been undertaking measures to prevent massive participation of the CIS countries' citizens in the Syrian armed conflict, the official said.The CIS Anti-Terrorism Center was founded in June 2000 as a standing body in charge of countering international terrorism and extremism.