Russia Deepening Ties With Iran, Syria
CNS News  | 2-19-05 | Sergei Blagov
 

Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Russia and Iran announced they plan to sign a long-delayed agreement that will clear the way for Russia to supply fuel to Iran's first nuclear power plant.

At the same time, Moscow is preparing to sell controversial weaponry to its former Cold War ally, Syria, for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The nuclear agreement, to be signed next week, will commit Russia to supplying fuel to the Bushehr nuclear plant for 10 years, while Iran pledges to return to Russia the spent nuclear fuel, which can be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Moscow's developing nuclear cooperation with Tehran comes at a time of heightened U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Washington believes Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Iran - and Russia - insist the program is for peaceful, power-generation purposes. Negotiations between Iran and three European Union countries are underway in a bid to resolve the dispute.

The Russian Nuclear Energy Agency said in a statement Thursday that the fuel agreement would be signed on February 26, during a visit to Tehran by the agency's head, Alexander Rumyantsev.

The supply of fuel could begin within a month or two of the signing, it said.

Under the deal, waste containing plutonium produced at the Bushehr plant would be shipped back to Russia for safe storage. Before shipping, however, the material must first be cooled, raising U.S. concerns that Iran could have up to two years to secretly extract the plutonium.

The reactor at Bushehr, built by the Russians, is expected to be completed at the end of the year or early 2006.
 

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