Iran says Russia committed to building atom plant

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

TEHRAN, Aug 28 (Reuters) Iran's president said today he believed Russia was committed to finishing work as planned on the Islamic Republic's first nuclear power station, a project caught up in a row over Tehran's atomic programme.

Under the latest schedule the plant in southwest Iran is supposed to start up in September 2007 but a Russian sub-contractor has said there is no chance of it happening before autumn next year.

''When (Russian President Vladimir) Putin saw me ... he said we would finish Bushehr power plant based on the plan.

I think Putin and the Russian government are committed to this,'' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

''I am not concerned in that regard.'' The two men met in Bishkek this month.

Russian officials say delays in the plant's construction are due to missed payments worth millions of dollars from Tehran and not political issues. Tehran insists it has made the proper payments and that Moscow is under pressure from the West.

The United States and some European countries accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic bombs under the cover of a civilian programme. Tehran denies this and says it only wants the technology to generate electricity.

Two sets of sanctions have already been imposed on Tehran.

Moscow says there is no evidence Tehran has the capability to make nuclear weapons.

Russian nuclear officials say nuclear fuel would have to be sent to Bushehr, a project initiated by Iran in the 1970s, at least six months before the reactors start up.

Russia has traditionally been seen as Tehran's closest big-power ally but the delays to Bushehr have chilled ties.

Analysts have speculated Moscow could be tweaking its policy towards Tehran or that the Kremlin is using Bushehr as a bargaining chip in a wider diplomatic game.

Russia today defended its nuclear cooperation with Iran, saying it anchored Tehran into talks about its nuclear programme and helped keep it under the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

REUTERS MS BST2338

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