Re: Crisis in Israel-Russia Ties
[...]
Israel is trying to halt an arms deal in which Russia would supply advanced missiles to Syria, Israeli officials said Wednesday.
Forget about that Russian-Syrian missile deal --just a smoke screen! Here's the REAL discord between Russia and Israel:
Russia backs initiative from Europe on Iran
By Katrin Bennhold International Herald Tribune
Saturday, January 22, 2005
MOSCOW Russia on Friday threw its backing behind a European initiative to persuade Iran to give up any nuclear technology that could be used for military purposes, and joined France in urging the United States to join the effort.
The unprecedented public show of unity on the issue followed a string of reports suggesting that the United States had hardened its stance on Tehran's atomic program and might be contemplating military action, a suggestion that the Bush administration has not denied outright.
Following two days of talks in the Russian capital, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his French counterpart, Michel Barnier, stressed in unison that the only way to reach a reliable agreement with Iran was through the political dialogue that France, Britain and Germany launched 16 months ago. Both ministers also made clear that in order to succeed the initiative needed more active support from the United States.
"We are working in parallel to the Europeans, we are backing their efforts," Lavrov told the International Herald Tribune after a press conference Thursday night, adding that his government was in contact with Iranian officials on a regular basis.
Barnier welcomed his host's support. "The Russians' backing is very important for us," the French minister said in an interview Friday. "Three large European countries have enough credibility to launch this dialogue, but for it to succeed we need both Russia and the United States to be behind us."
Barnier and Lavrov met alone on Thursday before joining their defense ministers Friday for a meeting of their countries' Security Cooperation Council, held every six months. The issues discussed included the fight against international terrorism and the situation in the Middle East and in Iraq, but Iran appeared to dominate the agenda.
This past week, an article in the New Yorker magazine set off a storm of commentary when it said that American agents had been working on the ground in Iran since last summer in an attempt to locate potential Iranian nuclear targets for destruction.
The administration said the report was "riddled with inaccuracies," but did not deny its central message, and President George W. Bush refused to rule out military action if Tehran were found to be secretly developing nuclear weapons. On Thursday, Iran reacted by warning that it would respond to any military attack.
Barnier and Lavrov both played down suggestions that Washington may have turned more hawkish on Iran. "I don't think attacking is an option, either for us or for the Americans," Barnier said.
In November, envoys from Britain, France and Germany gained Iran's agreement to temporarily suspend its uranium enrichment activities, an accord endorsed by the 35-country board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN monitoring group.
Russia has not always been supportive of the European initiative. Moscow initially needed assurances that Iran's civilian nuclear sector, in which Russia has significant investments, would not fall victim to the European demands.
Barnier said Russian suspicions had been overcome: "We have talked a lot to the Russians. They have understood that supporting Europe means supporting a political solution."
iht.com |
