Translated material
Without indiscriminateness
Russia wants to complete the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr
Yesterday, the UN Security Council informally resumed discussions on the Iranian nuclear issue . Last Friday, members of the European trio, Great Britain, France and Germany, presented an updated draft resolution calling for the imposition of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Now the fate of Iran will depend on whether the permanent members of the Security Council with veto power are able to reach an agreement among themselves.Russia's position remains key for Iran . Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of our country, Sergei Lavrov, noted that the draft resolution finalized by the European troika “is significantly different from the original version of our European partners. The concept of the project has been changed based on the proposals that Russia made to the original version. First of all, this concept is based on the need to influence Iran in order to induce it to sit down at the negotiating table, to influence in those areas that cause concern to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
According to Sergei Lavrov, the updated draft resolution provides for “limiting the supply to Iran of technologies and materials that relate to uranium enrichment work, chemical processing of irradiated fuel and related to the creation of a heavy water reactor, as well as any work that may be related to creation of means of delivery of nuclear weapons." In other words, the European troika is not proposing what Sergei Lavrov called “sweeping sanctions.”
The French Foreign Ministry, through its press secretary Jean-Baptiste Mattei, has already welcomed “the positive statements of the head of Russian diplomacy, Mr. Lavrov, on the draft resolution proposed by three European countries regarding the Iranian nuclear dossier.” According to him, coordination of the details of the resolution continues.
When discussing the issue of sanctions, Russia is especially vigilant to ensure that penalties do not affect the nuclear power plant being built with Russian participation in Bushehr . Yesterday, Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed that the sanctions proposed by the European troika do not apply to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, recalling that it is being built “in full compliance with IAEA standards and under the control of the IAEA.”
Participants in the meeting of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission held yesterday in Tehran also paid great attention to the Bushehr project. According to the Russian co-chairman of the commission, head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko, the Bushehr nuclear power plant remains “the main object of economic cooperation” between the two countries.
The previously agreed terms for its commissioning have not changed: the power unit will be launched in September 2007, and two months later the nuclear power plant will be connected to Iranian energy networks.
Co-chairman of the commission on the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, listed the most promising, in his opinion, areas of Russian-Iranian cooperation: energy, electricity, gas and oil industries, transport and industry. He spoke in favor of “the creation of a joint investment fund with the participation of banks and the creation of a joint venture for gas.”
In addition, the Iranian side offered Russian oil and gas companies, primarily Gazprom, cooperation in the search and development of new gas fields both on its territory and in other countries. According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of Russia Ivan Materov, who took part in the commission meeting, “Iranians consider Gazprom an effective world leader. They would like to cooperate with him. In particular, Iranian companies are expanding their presence in Venezuela and Bolivia in this area, and they would like to cooperate with Gazprom in these regions as well.
The meeting participants set the task of doubling trade turnover between Russia and Iran. Over the nine months of this year, Russian exports to Iran amounted to 1 billion 300 million dollars, imports - about 200 million dollars.
During the meeting of the intergovernmental commission there were intense discussions. As Alexei Saukh, a representative of Technopromexport OJSC, told Vremya Novostey, Iran presented tax claims to this organization for 1995. The matter was about additional payment of taxes on income from the supply of equipment for two Iranian thermal power plants - Ramin and Isfahan. Meanwhile, according to the Russian side, the payment of local taxes for the supply of equipment for these power plants from Russia, according to the contract, was part of the obligations of the Iranian state company Tavanir, which acted as the customer for the construction. As a result, as Mr. Sauh emphasized, “during the meeting, this issue was resolved, and the Iranian side undertook to remove tax requirements.” Iranian representatives also confirmed that they have no claims against Technopromexport regarding the payment of taxes on income from the organization’s activities in Iran.
Russia's special economic interests in Iran are unlikely to relieve Moscow of the need to support sanctions against Tehran. According to the head of the disarmament and conflict resolution department of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Pikaev, on the issue of the Iranian nuclear dossier, “Russia takes a balanced position and sends signals to both Tehran, the United States and Europe.” In a conversation with VN, the expert noted that the emergence of the European troika’s resolution is natural, because “Iran has not yet clarified the nature of its undeclared nuclear activities, as previously adopted resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors require it to do so. If Tehran does not take positive action in response, then Russia will be forced to agree that the Security Council will impose certain sanctions against Tehran.”
According to VN, disagreements still remain in the UN Security Council. Iran considers the adoption of any resolution unacceptable. Tehran insists that its “nuclear dossier” must be returned to the IAEA. Otherwise, he threatens to reconsider his cooperation with this organization.