ST. PETERSBURG, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia rigorously complies with all its commitments on nuclear non-proliferation, the country's defense minister said Friday.
"Rumors that Russia is covertly providing [nuclear] assistance to Iran is nothing but propaganda," Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said following talks in Russia's second city with his German counterpart, Franz Josef Jung.
Ivanov said the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, with Russian help had nothing to do with non-proliferation regulations.
"Supplies of fuel to the plant are possible if only [the spent fuel] is then returned to Russia," he said
Iran has come under heavy international pressure to re-impose a moratorium on its nuclear research program, which some countries say is being used as cover to develop a nuclear bomb. The Islamic Republic has denied the allegations, and says it is interested only in nuclear power for civilian purposes.
Russia proposed setting up a joint venture to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil as a solution in the long-running dispute. Ivanov said this offer, as well as proposals to construct new-technology reactors, would dispel suspicions that Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
Jung agreed with Ivanov that Iran had a legitimate desire to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes.
"But if the country obtains nuclear weapons, it would pose threat to global security," he said.
He stressed the importance for Iran to continue contacts with Russia, the European Union, the United States and China in search of a solution, and added that diplomacy was the most constructive way to resolve the crisis.
