Putin and Bush shared 'nervous' fears over Pakistan's nuclear proliferation, declassified transcripts show

Newly released verbatim transcripts of conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President George W. Bush, made public this week by the "National Security Archive" following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, showed deep early concerns about Pakistan'snuclear weapons and the risks of proliferation to states such as Iranand North Korea.

The documents, covering meetings and calls from 2001 to 2008, highlight how both leaders viewed Pakistan,under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, as a major non-proliferation headache, even as they built a close post-9/11 partnership focused on counter-terrorism. In their first personal encounter on 16 June 2001 at Brdo Castle in Slovenia, Putin voiced stark worries about the country's stability. "I am concerned about Pakistan," he told Bush. "It is just a junta with nuclear weapons. It is no democracy, yet the West does not criticize it. Should talk about it."

The exchange came amid discussions on strategic stability, missile defence, Iran, North Korea, and NATO expansion. Bush described Russia as "part of the West and not an enemy", while the two leaders expressed mutual respect-Bush later famously said he had looked into Putin's soul and found him trustworthy. By September 2005, during a meeting in the Oval Office focused on non-proliferation and cooperation on Iran and North Korea, the conversation turned explicitly to traces of Pakistani involvement in Iran's nuclear activities.

2005 Transcript:

Putin: But it's not clear what the labs (Iran) have, where they are... Cooperation with Pakistan still exists.

Bush: I talked to Musharraf about that. I told him we're worried about transfers to Iran and North Korea. They put A.Q. Khan in jail, and some of his buddies. Under house arrest. We want to know what they said. I keep reminding Musharraf of that. Either he's getting nothing, or he's not being forthcoming."

Putin: As far as I understand, they found uranium of Pakistani origin in the centrifuges.

Bush: Yes, the stuff the Iranians forgot to tell the IAEA about. That's a violation.

Putin: It was of Pakistani origin. That makes me nervous.

Bush: It makes us nervous, too

Putin: Think about us.

Bush: We don't need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons. That's what Iran has running the country.

The candid dialogue shows the shared anxiety over the A.Q. Khan proliferation network, the Pakistani scientist who admitted selling nuclear technology to multiple countries, and the fragility of Pakistan's command and control over its arsenal amid political instability. The transcripts portray an early "foxhole" camaraderie between the two presidents, with Bush calling Putin "the type of guy I like to have in the foxhole with me" after the 9/11 attacks.

Released earlier this week, after processing by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the documents provide rare insight into high-level discussions that shaped US-Russian cooperation on proliferation before relations deteriorated over issues including Iraq, NATO enlargement, and missile defence. The National Security Archive, a nonprofit research institute at George Washington University, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that accelerated declassification of the Bush-Putin transcripts.

India's own concerns over Pakistan's non-proliferation

India has long expressed concerns over Pakistan's nuclear proliferation record. Earlier this year, in response of US President Trump saying that Pakistan is conducting secret nuclear test, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal (November 2025) pointed that, "Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, that is centered around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, AQ Khan network and further proliferation". He emphasized that India has consistently drawn international attention to Pakistan's record of nuclear non-transparency and proliferation, framing it as a major regional security concern.

After the May conflict, India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh strongly questioned the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, labelling it an "irresponsible and rogue nation" and calling for its weapons to be placed under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).