The Hindu

Thursday, Aug 28, 2003

U.S. fails to sway Russia on Iran

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW AUG. 27. Washington has failed in its last-minute attempt to persuade
Moscow to stop nuclear cooperation with Iran, ahead of a Russian-American
summit next month.

Russia has not only said a firm `no' to the U.S. demand to halt the
construction of a nuclear reactor at the Bushehr power station, but has bid
to build another reactor in Iran.

After two days of talks on nuclear proliferation with the U.S.
Under-Secretary, John Bolton, in Moscow this week a Russian diplomatic
source was quoted as saying that "there were no new developments on the
subject of Iran at Bolton's consultations at the Foreign Ministry."

Simultaneously, the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry announced having handed
over to the Iranian side a feasibility study for a second reactor in
Bushehr.

A spokesman for the Ministry said the document had been prepared under
"agreement reached during the Atomic Minister, Alexander Rumyantsev's visit
to Teheran in December 2002."

Russian sources said Mr. Bolton had failed to produce any fresh proof of
Iran's alleged ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.

For its part, Moscow dismissed Washington's claim that the Bushehr nuclear
project can help Iran build a nuclear bomb.

On the eve of the Russian-American consultations on nuclear proliferation,
the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, approved a draft accord with
Iran on the return of spent nuclear fuel from the Bushehr reactor to Russia.
The accord would clear the way for the supply of Russian nuclear fuel to the
Bushehr reactor, which is due to become operational next year.

Russia's rejection of U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons programme
may cast a cloud over the Russian President, Vladimir Putin's meeting with
the U.S. President, George W. Bush, in Camp David in September.

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