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Russia opposes Iran draft

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russia has signalled its opposition to a European-drafted U.N. resolution calling for sanctions against Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the draft proposed by Europe's "troika" — France, Germany and Britain — did not match existing agreements between the six powers involved in talks with Iran over its nuclear programme.

The group of six includes, along with the "troika," Russia, the United States and China.

"Our goal is to eliminate the risks of sensitive technologies getting their way to Iran until the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency] clarifies issues of interest to it, while maintaining all possible channels of communication with Iran," Mr. Lavrov said on a visit to the Russian far north on Thursday.

"And it seems to me that the draft resolution clearly does not correspond to the tasks agreed on by the six sides," he said.

The document calls for banning the transfer of missile and nuclear technology to Iran, and cutting off financing for such projects, but does not set a time frame for the sanctions till the date the IAEA comes up with its report on Iran's nuclear programme, as Russia has insisted. Mr. Lavrov said Moscow was still studying the proposed draft, but indicated the resolution was unlikely to win its support.

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