Moscow would block aid from 10 research centers
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, March 18, 1999
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.
Thursday, March 18, 1999
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