BECAUSE RUSSIAN WOULD BE GLAD TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT CHINA LOOSES OIL WISE
THROUGH IRAN SANCTIONS
Russia Has Not Promised Iran to Oppose Sanctions - Minister
Created: 06.05.2006 16:57 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:44 MSK, 8 hours 35
minutes ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia had made no
pledges to oppose sanctions against Iran.
In response to remarks from his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr
Mottaki, who said that Russia and China "have officially told us ...
(of) their opposition to sanctions and military attacks" against the
Islamic Republic, Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov stressed that
Russia has "made no such announcements".
Moscow had not decided whether Iran poses a threat, and Russia would
make that decision only based on the opinion of UN nuclear experts,
Lavrov told Reuters.
Russian officials claim that the results of the inspections that were
held in Iran do not allow Russian experts to conclude whether Iran has
the technology to create weapons of mass destruction, or if it has the
intention to do so.
Lavrov spoke a day after discussion started between the five
veto-holding members of the UN Security Council, Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States, over a resolution demanding Iran
curb its nuclear ambitions. The countries are still at odds on how to
rein in the Iranian nuclear program. The U.S., Britain, France and
Germany favor sanctions against Tehran and want the UN Security Council
to adopt the resolution by Monday.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged that Tehran
would keep up its uranium enrichment. He insists that its program is
peaceful in nature, is being undertaken in full accordance with
international law and is open to international checks.
Tehran has said it wants to resolve the dispute through diplomatic
means, but rejects calls to halt enrichment, which Washington thinks is
a prelude to producing nuclear weapons.
Russia has previously opposed sanctions against Tehran, saying they
would be counterproductive.
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