MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Head of the Russian Center for Strategic Nuclear Force Studies Major General Vladimir Dvorkin on Friday once again rejected U.S. charges that Russia was cooperating with Iran in the sphere of nuclear technologies.
"Such charges originate in some groups that are not interested in supporting partner relations with Russia. I personally have no knowledge of any instances of such cooperation," Dvorkin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Nowadays nuclear weapons can be used not only in peaceful or military purposes, but also as a PR instrument," said Dvorkin, who previously headed the Russian Defense Ministry's 4th Central R&D Institute.
He presumed that if such cooperation existed between Russia and Iran, it was effected on the level of private organizations, not state bodies. "If Americans provide some facts during the summit, I hope that Russia will stop such contacts," he stressed.
Dvorkin noted that Russia's involvement in the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant "does not exceed the limits of ordinary economic cooperation and does not violate provisions of international law; moreover, it is controlled by the IAEA."
The expert admitted, however, that he realized the reasons behind U.S. concerns. "Iran tries to do what it takes to become the region's main missile country, but its conventional long- range missiles are ineffective, that is why Iran is obviously interested in procuring weapons of mass destruction, primarily nuclear weapons," he said.
Earlier on Friday, a high-ranking official of the U.S. Department of State told Interfax that the U.S. party to the summit was going to insist on cessation of Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran.
According to him, the United States will pay extra attention to the issue, because Russia was cooperating with Iran in development of ballistic missiles. The diplomat assured that the United States had solid facts confirming such cooperation.
At the same time, he admitted that Washington was not aware whether Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation was effected by official bodies or private companies.