Moscow would block aid from 10 research centers

MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has offered to limit nuclear assistance to Iran for a U.S. lifting of sanctions against 10 Russian research centers.

Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov told a news conference on Wednesday that Russia is prepared to order a halt of the assistance provided by the 10 sanctioned research centers. Adamov said he will discuss the proposal with the Clinton administration, which imposed sanctions on the institutes in January.

The United States said the 10 research centers provide Iran with technology that could help it develop nuclear weapons. The institutes include Nikiet, the Scientific Research and Design Institute for Power Technologies and the Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology.

The offer was the first sign that Moscow was feeling the pinch of U.S. sanctions, which bar Russian companies from lucrative contracts. Russian officials, including Adamov, have insisted that the institutes sanctioned focus on civilian research.

Western intelligence sources said Iran, with Russian assistance, could achieve the production of nuclear weapons by 2005.

Adamov said he submitted the plan to U.S. officials last week. He said he hoped an agreement could be reached when Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov meets U.S. Vice President Al Gore in Washington next week.

The minister acknowledged that his agency seeks to lift sanctions so it could receive contracts to help fund Russia's nuclear industries. But he said the institutes did not earn money by transfering nuclear weapons technology to Iran.

"One may make money in ways that do not increase danger," Adamov said.