MOSCOW, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders are alive and getting ready for new terrorist acts, while they continue to receive financial aid, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Thursday.

　　"The leaders of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are safe and sound, and continue the preparations of terrorist acts," Ivanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a press conference in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

　　Ivanov said "large parts of the Taliban movement have been destroyed in Afghanistan, but the situation outside Kabul is far from stable."

　　Ivanov also denied that Russia had information about the alleged links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

　　"Claims that the Baghdad regime supports terrorist groups must be verified very thoroughly," he stressed.

　　Ivanov, who began a two-day working visit to Azerbaijan on Wednesday, told the Itar-Tass news agency upon his arrival in Baku that he did not rule out the possibility of a military operation by the United States and its allies against Iraq.