RUSSIA DECLINES TO JOIN EU ACTIONS AGAINST IRAN.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official said yesterday that Moscow would not join European countries in their diplomatic actions against Tehran. (Interfax, April 22) The EU action, which involved a recall of ambassadors from Iran, came in response to an April 10 court ruling in Germany that implicated Tehran in the 1992 murder of four Iranian Kurds in Berlin. The Russian official’s remarks followed reports on April 21 that Iran’s Foreign Ministry had sent a letter to its Russian counterpart urging Moscow to denounce the German court decision. In the letter, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati reportedly described the German charges as "irresponsible and groundless." (Interfax, April 21) Moscow gave a warm welcome to the head of Iran’s parliament on April 11, a day after the German court’s decision. (See Monitor, April 14)

Raduev Claims Chechen Government Tried to Kill Him.