Saudi says no bar to nuclear cooperation with Russia http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1443145120070214
Wed Feb 14, 2007
By Andrew Hammond
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a key U.S. ally, said on Wednesday the kingdom does not see any obstacle to cooperating with Russia on developing a nuclear energy program. "There is no obstacle to cooperate with Russia on ... nuclear energy," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference.
Analysts said the plan by Sunni bastion Saudi Arabia is a warning shot to Shi'ite Iran that it could enter the regional arms race and start developing nuclear capability.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday during a visit to Saudi Arabia that his country would consider helping the kingdom with a possible atomic energy program.
"On nuclear energy, there was a (Russian) contact with the kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council," he said when asked if Saudi Arabia and Russia had made any agreements.
Saudi Arabia and fellow GCC members Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, said in December they would study embarking on a joint civil atomic program.
The announcement by the GCC, a loose economic and political alliance, raised concern of a regional arms race with analysts saying the Arab bloc wanted to match Iran's nuclear program.
The United States and its regional allies including Israel and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran's nuclear energy program aims to develop weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was expected in Riyadh on Wednesday for a second round of talks with Saudi leaders in a month, Iranian media said.
"Sources in Saudi Arabia said the aim of this visit is to exchange views over Iran's nuclear issue and the recent changes in the region ...," Iran's official IRNA news agency said.
Larijani's talks in Riyadh last month also covered Iran's role in Iraq, where Saudi Arabia blames Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias for sectarian killings of Sunni Iraqis.
"They expressed recently their anxiety about possible efforts to divide the Muslim world between Sunnis and Shi'ites and this is something that we are anxious about," the Saudi foreign minister said.
"We look forward to agreements and action on the ground to see what both countries can do to prevent it."
(Additional reporting by Diala Saadeh in Dubai)
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