RUSSIA TO INCREASE COOPERATION WITH IRAN.

Russian first deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets, speaking only weeks before the Moscow nuclear security summit, said April 10 that Russia would proceed with the construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr in Iran, despite Washington’s continuing objections to the project. "Russian-Iranian trade and economic cooperation will develop regardless of statements voiced by those who are against it," he told Iran’s ambassador to Russia. Soskovets said that Russia would also build a plant in Iran for the construction of IL-114 turbo-prop passenger planes, and listed oil production and processing, metallurgy, power engineering, and military cooperation as other promising areas in relations between the two countries.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official, also addressing the issue of nuclear cooperation with Iran April 10, said Moscow would not be providing Tehran with technologies that could be used for military purposes and dismissed U.S. objections to the deal as "unreasoned and isolationist." Albert Chernyshev said that while Russia does not want to see a new nuclear state appear on its border, it does seek to make profits on nuclear-related projects and to preserve a market for itself in this area. He added that Moscow would pursue a number of other peaceful nuclear projects in addition to the one at Bushehr. (Interfax, Itar-Tass, Reuter, April 10)

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