21 April 2006
International
Bushehr nuke plant to go on: Moscow
- By Judith Ingram
Moscow, April 20: Russia on Thursday rejected a US call for Moscow to end its cooperation with Iran in constructing the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the plant had no relation to Iran's work in uranium enrichment.
"The adoption of a commitment on ending cooperation with this or that state in some sphere lies exclusively in the competence of the UN security council," he said in a statement. "Up to now, the security council has taken no decision on ending cooperation with Iran in nuclear energy."
Every country "has the right to decide with whom and how it should cooperate," Mr Kamynin said, adding that the Bushehr project was "under the full control" of the UN nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency.
US undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns said on Wednesday in Moscow that the US had called on countries to end all nuclear cooperation with Iran, including work on the Bushehr plant.
He also said that countries should stop all arms exports to Iran - Russia is supplying Iran with sophisticated air defence missiles. (AP)