#6033
#13
BBC Monitoring
Putin to face difficult choice between Washington and
Iran - Russian experts
Source: Centre TV, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 19 Jan 02
Russian-Iranian cooperation, especially Russian arms supplies to Tehran and assistance in the construction of the nuclear plant in Busher, may become a bone of contention in the currently cloud-free relations between Moscow and Washington,the Russian Centre TV weekly analytical programme "Postscript" warns in a special report. Russian experts, interviewed by the programme, advocate close ties with Iran but say that Russian President Vladimir Putin may face a difficult choice some day.
[Presenter Aleksey Pushkov] There is one more problem in our relations with the USA brewing little by little. This is the problem of Iran. Everything indicates that a direct collision between the interests of Moscow and Washington is possible there. Aleksey Dubnov has more.
[Correspondent] Having declared a war on international terrorism, Washington embarked on a principal reconstruction of the world under a clear-cut and well-defined slogan proclaimed by President Bush: who is not with us, is against us.
Iran is among those who, as the Americans believe, pose a major threat to their security.
[Omitted: historic background]
First of all, the Americans are sure that Tehran is actively working on the creation of nuclear weapons and the means of their delivery. However, Iran has arguments of its own.
[Sergey Druzhilovskiy, captioned as professor of oriental studies in the Institute of Foreign Relations under the Russian Foreign Ministry] Iran's position to this effect is very clear-cut and secure. The Iranians say that we should strive for universal nuclear disarmament. They go further than us as we propose only the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. They say: let's go further. Nuclear weapons can destroy the whole of mankind, so we are ready to be the first to sign any document describing steps towards the reduction and complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
[Correspondent] Another American accusation is that Iran allegedly supports terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas. Washington also believes that Iran is harbouring some Al-Qa'idah fighters who fled from Afghanistan.
[Omitted: known facts about the alleged arms ship detained in the Red Sea]
[Druzhilovskiy] I think that the attempts to accuse the Palestinians of receiving broad military or financial aid from anywhere are groundless. There are no real channels that the Palestinians could use. They have no ports, no airport and no direct banking relations with other countries. So it will be very difficult for the USA to prove that Iran is doing something to this effect, I mean bolstering terrorism.
[Correspondent] Another irritation appeared in relations between Washington and Tehran after the Afghan war. Washington dislikes the Iranian aspiration to play a key role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and restore its former influence in border areas in western Afghanistan.
[Omitted: known facts about the situation in Afghanistan]
The USA is also unhappy about Russian-Iranian military, nuclear and space cooperation.
[Ivan Safranchuk, captioned as head of the Moscow bureau of the centre for military information] The most unpleasant thing for the United States is [Russian-Iranian] nuclear cooperation, namely the construction of a nuclear plant in Busher, that successfully continued - sometimes we failed to meet deadlines but in general it was successful - through the whole of the 1990s accompanied by sharp US criticism. Of course, American pressure will continue but we should not exaggerate this. This question already has a history, it always existed, and Moscow has evidently learned how to withstand this pressure.
[Correspondent] Experts say that in five or six years Iran, together with China and India, may become the third area in which Russian arms exports will prevail. Iran is ready to pay 300-400 million dollars per year for our weapons and spend a total of 2bn dollars by 2010.
The Russian-Iranian partnership in the oil and gas spheres is also strategically important for us, especially in view of the possible construction of oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia via Afghanistan and Iran.
Therefore, we are in a delicate situation. On the one hand, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin has decided to support the US antiterrorist campaign. On the other hand, we cannot drop our commitments to Iran. Moreover, the USA is thinking about returning to the Iranian market and taking over prolific Russian contracts.
Finally, Putin may have to make a choice between Washington and Tehran. So far Moscow says it has no intention of not fulfilling Russian obligations concerning cooperation with Iran, though our American partners, for example [US Secretary of State] Colin Powell, return to this issue at the talks again and again.
[Video shows scenes of the Afghan war, rallies in Tehran, street clashes in the West Bank, military hardware, industrial facilities, archive footage of Russian, American, Iranian and Israeli politicians]
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