WASHINGTON, July 21 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - The U.S. Senate approved the draft law on appropriations for foreign operations in 2006, Wednesday. The bill, which 98 senators voted for and one voted against, demands that Russia stop providing Iran with technical assistance, technology and equipment for nuclear or ballistic missile programs, and that Russia provide international humanitarian NGOs with full access to refugees and displaced persons in Chechnya.
Senators included $5 million for humanitarian assistance to Chechnya, Ingushetia and other areas in the North Caucasus, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.
The bill says that 60% of the funds allocated for these aims and designed to assist the government of the Russian Federation should be excluded from the U.S. obligations until the American president has provided the Committee on Appropriations with a written guarantee that the Russian government has implemented a number of conditions.
The restriction in the bill does not extend to U.S. nonproliferation and disarmament assistance programs in Russia. The bill repeats the same conditions that were written into the foreign operations appropriations bill for 2005, which was adopted by the U.S. Congress last year.
The U.S. Administration accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and believes that the Bushehr nuclear reactor, which Russia is helping Iran build and which is almost completed, will help the theocratic regime access nuclear technology. The U.S. includes Iran in "the axis of evil."
