MOSCOW - Despite American criticism, Russia has
pledged to continue its nuclear ties with Iran. Yet it
remains unclear whether Moscow is driven by mainly
commercial motives, or if it is making a point in favor
of global "multi-polarity" against American
unilateralism.
Russia has a good chance of
winning the contract to build the Bushehr-2 nuclear site
in Iran, Center for Modern Iran Studies head Rajab
Safarov told journalists in Moscow earlier this week.
Moscow and Tehran are expected to sign a protocol of
intent on building Bushehr-2 during Russian Federal
Nuclear Energy Agency chief Alexander Rumyantsev's visit
to Iran in July or August, Safarov said. The plant would
be Iran's second nuclear facility.
In fact,
Safarov reiterated and clarified earlier pledges by
Russia's federal nuclear agency, which indicated that
Moscow would continue building the Bushehr nuclear
reactor despite criticism of Iran by Mohamed ElBaradei,
chief of the United Nations watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The US is pressing for Iran
to be taken to the UN Security Council for allegedly
secretly developing nuclear weapons, but has not won
support for this yet at the IAEA. But earlier this
month, ElBaradei hardened the tone of the IAEA's
investigation into Iran's nuclear program.
Yet
Russia still insists on its nuclear ties with Iran.
"Russia has no reasons for curtailing its cooperation
with Iran in completing the construction of the first
Bushehr reactor, scheduled to be launched in 2005,"
Russian Federal Nuclear Energy Agency spokesman Nikolai
Shingaryov said earlier this month, adding that
"negotiations will be continued on Russia's
participation in the construction of a second Bushehr
reactor. No convincing evidence that the Iranian nuclear
program may have a military aspect have been found."
Earlier in June, first deputy chairman of
Russia's State Duma, Lyubov Sliska, told Iranian news
agency IRNA that Russia seeks to expand its ties with
Iran. "We should not heed US views in expansion of our
ties with other countries around the globe," she said.
"The Russian president knows better how and where to
establish friendly ties and cooperation with others."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia
sees no reason to halt cooperation with Iran in the
construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. On June
10, Putin told reporters at the end of the Group of
Eight (G8) summit on Sea Island in the US state of
Georgia that Russia would halt cooperation only if Iran
refused to be transparent and stopped cooperating with
the IAEA. "But for the moment, we have no reason to do
that," he said.
Putin's comments came as G8
leaders - even Putin - said they were "deeply concerned"
about Iran's compliance with IAEA requirements and
stressed: "We deplore Iran's delays, deficiencies in
cooperation, and inadequate disclosures." Iran rejected
the G8 statement, saying there is no proof Iran has done
anything wrong.
Russia has long been under fire
for its help in building the first Bushehr nuclear plant
on Iran's Gulf coast. The US insisted that the Russian
technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons, but
Moscow and Tehran argued that the plant could be used
only for civilian purposes. Moscow has brushed off
repeated US demands that it cancel the US$1 billion
Bushehr 1,000 megawatt light-water nuclear reactor
project.
Meanwhile, Russia has said it would
freeze construction on the Bushehr nuclear plant and it
would not begin delivering fuel for the reactor until
Iran signs an agreement that would oblige it to return
all of the spent fuel back to Russia for reprocessing
and storage. This agreement was reported as close to
being signed last September but so far the deal has
failed to fully materialize.
Last October,
Russia announced a delay for the launch of the Bushehr
nuclear reactor till 2005, and urged Tehran to improve
disclosure of its nuclear plans. However, there has been
no talk about dropping the Bushehr agreement.
Nonetheless, the Kremlin has repeatedly argued it abides
by international agreements banning the proliferation of
nuclear technologies.
Russian officials have
also complained that the criticism of the Bushehr
project was in part sparked by commercial
considerations. Russia's nuclear executives have claimed
that unnamed "competitors" were trying to undermine
Russia's nuclear energy exports, which could eventually
bring Moscow up to $3 billion a year.
Tehran
seemingly appreciates Russia's stance on Bushehr.
Coincidence or not, earlier this week Iran approved
enlargement of Russia's preferred project, the
North-South transport corridor agreement: Tehran
approved the membership of Turkey and Ukraine in the
project. Russia is trying to make the North-South
transport connection a viable alternative to Red Sea
routes as well as US-backed Eurasian transport links.
Russia, India and Iran signed an agreement on the
development of the North-South corridor in 2000 and the
agreement also includes Kazakhstan, Oman, Tajikistan and
Belarus.
On the other hand, Russia's insistence
on nuclear ties with Iran indicates an absence of double
standard approaches, which still allow some chosen
nations to rely on nuclear weapons but ban other
countries from any nuclear ambitions.
Russia
makes no secret of its reliance on atomic weapons.
Russia now has three missile armies and 16 divisions
that have a total of 735 intercontinental ballistic
missiles armed with 3,159 nuclear warheads, according to
Russian media reports. Only Russia's missile-nuclear
shield "can safeguard our sovereignty and national
security", Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has
said.
Moscow argues it strictly follows
international agreements banning the proliferation of
nuclear military technologies. But Russia concedes that
other nations may also have civilian nuclear ambitions
of their own: this argument could also serve to back up
Moscow's preference of global "multi-polarity", a
concept that opposes American unilateralism.
In
the meantime, hypocrisy and double standards have become
a matter of concern for the IAEA. In a speech in
Washington earlier this month, ElBaradei urged nations
to "abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally
reprehensible for some countries to pursue nuclear
weapons but morally acceptable for others to rely on
them". The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signed
more than three decades ago called on the declared
nuclear states - the United States, Russia, China,
Britain, and France - to move toward full nuclear
disarmament. Meanwhile, these nuclear powers pressuring
Iran and North Korea to stick with non-proliferation and
abandon nuclear arms are themselves still actually
relying on the weapons.
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