A Russian technician walks inside the
Reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran,
February 2006.Russia is pulling out many technicians, engineers and other
specialists from the Iranian nuclear reactor plant Bushehr, Austria Press
Agency (APA) reported Tuesday. (Xinhua/AFP photo) Gallery>>>
VIENNA,
March 20 (Xinhua) -- Russia is pulling out many technicians, engineers and other
specialists from the Iranian nuclear reactor plant Bushehr, Austria Press Agency
(APA) reported Tuesday.
The move would help the UN to adopt harsher sanctions
on Iran, which had refused to stop its uranium enrichment last month before the
IAEA report was released, the report said.
Many Russian experts had reportedly left to Moscow as
recently as last week, and this move was believed to be associated with the
final disagreement between Russia and Iran on financial issues.
Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for the Russia's Federal
Nuclear Power Agency Rosatom, confirmed the issue, saying the reason was Iranian
payment delays.
Russia on Tuesday denied U.S. press reports that it
had threatened to withhold nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant if
Tehran fails to meet UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.
"I can tell you that the report is not accurate, that
there has been no Russian ultimatum to Iran of any kind," Russian Ambassador to
the UN, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters.
"We continue to regard the Bushehr project as
something that is outside the scope" of the UN sanctions resolutions.
UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday denied reports that Moscow had imposed an ultimatum on
Iran over its nuclear program.
"Our deal with the Iranians is on track," Churkin said, in
response to a report by The New York Times that Moscow has told Tehran that it
would withhold fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant unless Iran suspends
its uranium enrichment program as demanded by the UN Security Council.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surveys the
nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran about 1,215 km (755 miles) south of
Tehran, February 1, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery
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