Moscow, May 28: A senior Russian lawmaker says that Moscow does not want a US-proposed UN Security Council resolution against Iran to affect trade ties between Tehran and Moscow.
“For us it is important that the possible sanctions, to be specified in the resolution, do not affect existing contracts in the trade and economic sphere,” said Mikhail Margelov, head of the Russian upper house of parliament’s international relations committee.
The draft resolution was revealed by the US only one day after the Tehran declaration was signed in the Iranian capital on May 17.
Russia’s support for the draft resolution has strained Tehran-Moscow relations.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned that Moscow’s stance against the Tehran declaration could turn Russia into an “enemy” of the Iranian nation.
“Russian leaders should not create a situation that makes Iranian people place Russia in the ranks of their historic enemies,” Ahmadinejad said.
The declaration, signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil, commits Tehran to put 1,200 kg (2,640 lb) of its low-enriched uranium in escrow in Turkey in exchange for 120 kg (264 lb) of 20 percent-enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
———Agencies