AP/Johnson's List - 07.23.2002

 

 

 

 

 

Johnson's Russia List

Envoy: Russia-Iran Ties Concern U.S.

By Angela Charlton

MOSCOW - (AP) The United States remains concerned about Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran, the U.S. ambassador to Russia said Monday, warning that those ties and Russian weapons sales to China could still threaten world security.

Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, in a sweeping speech at a conference outside Moscow, also issued frank criticism of Russia's military actions in Chechnya and of threats to Russia's post-Soviet freedoms. Such criticism had been muted in recent months amid warmer U.S.-Russian ties prompted by President Vladimir Putin's support of the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign.

``We continue to have concerns that technology and know-how for nuclear weapons are flowing to Iran,'' Vershbow said at the conference, according to a U.S. Embassy text of his statement. The conference was open only to Russian media.

``Russia has to keep close watch on nearby countries - Iran, Iraq, North Korea - that are actively seeking to acquire nuclear, chemical or biological weapons,'' Vershbow said. 

``Russia has to avoid letting its desire for commercial gain end up hastening the day that these countries can pose a threat that could not only destabilize their own region, but undermine the security of the entire world.''

The United States has pressed Russia to step a project to build a nuclear power plant for Iran, fearing it could help Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Russia insists the Bushehr power plant will for civilian use only and, in an attempt earlier this month to allay U.S. fears, said it would require Iran to allow it to take back spent fuel from the plant.

Russia's Interfax news agency earlier quoted Vershbow as saying at the conference that Washington has ``fewer reasons'' to be worried about Russian-Iranian cooperation. But the U.S. embassy said the Interfax report was incorrect, and Interfax retracted the report.

Vershbow noted that the United States and other Western nations recently pledged $20 billion in aid to help Russia destroy or secure its weapons of mass destruction.

``We hope that in the wake of this new initiative Russia will do its part by tightening its controls on nuclear cooperation with Iran,'' he said.

The ambassador also expressed concern about Russia's weapons sales to China.

``Could the massive amounts of weaponry that Russia sells to China - for understandable commercial reasons - add to the instability of Asia?'' he asked. ``If war broke out in the Taiwan Straits, this would lead to serious instability on Russia's eastern border.''

Regarding the Chechnya war, Vershbow asked: ``Will Russia have the courage to seek a political solution to the bloody war in Chechnya, which continues despite the government's claims that the situation is returning to normal? Will the Russian leadership hold to account those members of the security forces who, in the name of fighting terrorism, are committing serious violations of the human rights of the civilian population?''

U.S. criticism of the Chechnya campaign softened after Sept. 11, and U.S. officials have said international terrorists are among those fighting Russian troops in the breakaway republic.