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Putin hardens line on Iranian nuclear program
Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardening his line toward Iran's nuclear
program, said Thursday Tehran needed to do more to assure the world it was not
trying to build atomic weapons. He said that in addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control." Iran has long denied accusations it is secretly seeking nuclear arms and has received strong backing from Putin, who sees cooperation with the Islamic Republic as a way to strengthen Russia's role in the Middle East. In February, Moscow and Tehran signed the fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington, which believes Iran could use Russian know-how to make nuclear weapons. On the eve of his visit to Israel, the first by a Kremlin leader, Putin proposed hosting a Middle East peace conference in Moscow later this year. The offer was swiftly rejected as premature by Israel and the United States. Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Channel One television that Putin did not raise the proposal in talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After greeting Putin in Russian, Sharon said: "I am certain this meeting will deepen the relations between Israel and Russia." Sharon has said peacemaking under a "road map" promoted by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations would be on hold until the Palestinians began dismantling militant groups in the plan's first phase. 'NOT THERE YET' "In the second stage of the road map, there is an international conference. But we are not there yet -- we are far from it," a senior Israeli official said. Earlier, the Palestinians said such a meeting could help prepare for statehood talks they hope to hold after Israel's planned Gaza pullout in no more than four months' time. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington: "We believe there will be an appropriate time for an international conference, but we are not at that stage now and I don't expect that we will be there by the fall." Putin's proposal appeared to be part of his wider plan to revive Moscow's Cold War influence in the Middle East -- a status Russia lost after the Soviet collapse. He was due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank Friday. Putin also took fire from Israeli President Moshe Katsav over a Russian missile deal with Syria. "Israel is still forced to fight terrorism and the Russian missiles could limit our ability to (do so)," Katsav told a joint news conference, referring to Israel's fears the weapons could wind up in the hands of Lebanese militants on its border. Nonetheless, Katsav called Putin a friend of Israel and both leaders stressed the need to speed up a joint effort to fight terrorism and anti-Semitism in Russia and elsewhere. Putin said the Strelet missiles involved in the deal were vehicle-mounted, short-range and could not be turned into shoulder-launched missiles. He said Russian inspectors would be able to carry out spot examinations of the systems. Addressing Israeli concerns over Iran, Putin said Russian collaboration with Tehran's nuclear program was "within the boundaries of peaceful purposes." Israel is believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal. |
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