Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Tehran is fully legal and transparent, Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said ahead of talks Friday with top US arms control diplomat, John Bolton.
"We keep to international law, our actions are fully legal and transparent for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and they have no complaints against us," Rumyantsev said, according to Itar-Tass.
Rumyantsev is due to travel to Iran next month to discuss speeding up the construction of a nuclear plant at Bushehr, in the south of the country, a project Russia continues despite Washington's objections.
"We are building a nuclear station (in Iran), for money. This isn't some kind of aid, this is a commercial project," Rumyantsev declared.
Nevertheless Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran is high upon the agenda of Rumyantsev's talks with Bolton, a prospect Rumyantsev viewed with some humor.
"I always say that if we did not talk about Iran, it's as if we haven't met," the minister commented.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
