Russia: No sign of Iran Nuclear deviation

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162264.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the Western countries have no proof to support its claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear program is deviating from its peaceful path.

"The international community so far has no information that Iran is building nuclear weapons," Medvedev said on Wednesday during the 41st annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the Associated Press reported.

The five-day conference, which opened earlier on the day in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, focuses on issues such as the European debt crisis, financial instability in the West, rising inflation, and social unrest.

Around 2,500 heads-of-state, international business and political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists from around the world attend the annual meeting.

Medvedev said he has spoken to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and encouraged him to demonstrate that his country's nuclear activities are peaceful.

The US and its European allies accuse Iran of efforts aimed at developing a military nuclear program, using this pretext to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran's financial and military sectors.

Washington also enticed the European Union to follow in its tracks by imposing further unilateral sanctions against the country's gas and oil industries.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the US-engineered charges, arguing that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to use peaceful nuclear technology.

Russia refutes anti-Iran nuclear claims

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162184.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed baseless US-led allegations that the Islamic Republic is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

"The international community so far has no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons," he said at the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The Russian president told world leaders and top executives at the forum that his country has long-term relations with Iran.

He further pointed out that he hopes Moscow can play a fruitful role in the ongoing dialog between Iran and the West.

Medvedev also said that he told his Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a recent phone call to show that Tehran's nuclear activities are peaceful, the Associated Press reported.

Western powers accuse Tehran of following a military nuclear program, a charge repeatedly refuted by the Islamic Republic.

Last June, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program under Western pressure.

Describing such sanctions as illegal under international law, Iran says that such measures will not prevent it from pursuing peaceful nuclear technology, which is mostly needed for curing cancer patients.

Iran says it has the right to use peaceful nuclear energy as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Earlier this month, Tehran invited international diplomats to visit the country's nuclear sites as a goodwill gesture aimed at highlighting the "transparency" of its nuclear program.

Last week, representatives from the IAEA, the Non-Aligned Movement, Group of 77, and the Arab League made a two-day tour of the country's nuclear facilities.

The international delegates, who represented more than 120 countries, visited the heavy water reactor in the central Iranian city of Arak and toured Iran's Natanz enrichment facility.

Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh announced that the envoys published a positive report on their visit.

The 41st World Economic Forum, aimed at fighting global financial problems, opened in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Wednesday.

Russia against US sanctions on Iran

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162188.html

A Russian political analyst says Moscow is opposed to unilateral US sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, describing such one-sided measures as unacceptable.

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok told IRNA on Wednesday that Russia believes that one-sided US sanctions against Iran are unacceptable and should be lifted.

He said that the Islamic Republic has the right to develop a peaceful nuclear program, reiterating that Russia supports Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran is pursuing its nuclear program within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Palishok said.

He went on to say that Tehran has every reason to defend its nuclear program, criticizing the West's approach toward Iran's nuclear program as wrong and unacceptable.

This comes as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday dismissed US-led allegations that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

"The international community so far has no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons," he said at the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The US and its Western allies have been repeating a rhetorical claim alleging that Iran may be secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, a claim vehemently rejected by Tehran and in an obvious contradiction to numerous inspection reports by the IAEA verifying non-diversion of Iran's civilian nuclear program.

The Islamic Republic, among the original countries to sign the NPT, has initiated the idea of a Middle East free of nuclear arms. Iran has also insisted on a global elimination of nuclear weapons, a call ignored by major nuclear powers.

Apart from the UN Security Council resolutions, Iran is under unilateral US sanctions over its nuclear program.

Iran has described the sanctions as illegal, insisting that the NPT, to which it is a signatory, gives it the right to benefit from the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.

Russia deploys S-300 in Abkhazia

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138310§ionid=351020606


Russia says it has stationed the advanced S-300 air defense missile system in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, amid concerns expressed by Tbilisi over the move.

"We have deployed the S-300 system on the territory of Abkhazia," Russia's Air Force Commander-In-Chief General Alexander Zelin said in a statement carried by Russian media on Wednesday.

"Its role will be anti-aircraft defense of the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in cooperation with the air defense systems of the army," he said.

Meanwhile, Russia's Air Force Commander Gen. Aleksandr Zelin also asserted that the air defense system was deployed to protect Russia's military facilities in Abkhazia and to prevent "violations of government borders," local media reported.

Political observers in Russia say the deployment of the S-300 air defense system in the Abkhazia enclave is not irrelevant to newest US efforts to deploy part of its anti-air missile batteries in some countries in the region.

Georgia, which insists Abkhazia and South Ossetia are an integral part of its territory, was quick to react, describing Moscow's move as a source of concern both for Tbilisi and NATO.

Georgia says it wants to join NATO, an ambition that has irked Russia.

"This should be of concern not only for Georgia but also for other regional actors, including NATO," Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili was quoted by AFP as saying.

The Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 after Tbilisi launched a major offensive against the independence-seeking republic of South Ossetia in a bid to retake control of the region.

Russia, South Ossetia's main ally, responded to the attack by moving in its military forces and driving out Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The two regions declared independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but were not internationally recognized.

Russia has recognized the two regions.

Moscow has built permanent military bases in the breakaway regions and stationed hundreds of soldiers and border guards in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia: Bushehr plant due in August

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127086§ionid=351020104


Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, which is being built by Russia, is scheduled to begin operating in August regardless of any new sanctions against Tehran.

"We are counting on the nuclear power station launching in August, if everything goes as planned," Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's federal atomic energy agency, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The remarks come two days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Group of Six world powers, which includes Russia, had reached an agreement on a "strong draft resolution" for new sanctions against Iran.

Kiriyenko further said, "The resolution now being prepared on Iran will not in any way affect this."

The P5+1 comprises of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- plus Germany.

The draft resolution came only a day after Iran announced it had reached an agreement with Turkey to send 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 120 kg of higher-enriched uranium it requires for producing medical isotopes in Tehran's Research Reactor.

The shipping of Iran's low-enriched uranium to a foreign country was the US and its Western allies' main demand in talks with Tehran on nuclear fuel swap.

In 1995, Russia signed an agreement with Iran to build the plant. Under the deal, the plant was originally scheduled to become operational by 1999 but the completion of the $1 billion project has been frequently delayed.