PUTIN SEEKS CLOSER TIES WITH IRAN, IRAQ... President Vladimir Putin said
that Russia,"as a member of the G-8" should cooperate with the
international community on Iran and Iraq but that it must not ever forget
its "own national interests." In an interview published in "Nezavisimaya
gazeta" on 26 December, Putin said he would pursue closer ties with both
countries. Both are changing, he suggested, and Russia should not be "shy"
in responding to those changes as other countries have been.
...AS DEFENSE MINISTER PUSHES WEAPONS SALES IN TEHRAN. Defense Minister
Igor Sergeev met with the Iranian President Mokhammad Khatami and his
defense minister, Ali Shamkhani, to discuss the possibility of Iranian
purchases of Russian weapons systems, Interfax reported on 27 December. (A
Russian official who accompanied Sergeev said that Tehran could eventually
purchase some $4 billion of Russian weapons.) Sergeev dismissed American
objections to such sales by saying that "of course, not everybody in the
world agrees with our position, but we will pursue our own goals." At the
same time, he said that he would urge Iran to join with Russia and the U.S.
in containing the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. "Security and stability
in Central Asia are in the interests of both Russia and Iran," he said.
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