October 16, 2005 :: News
The London Telegraph carried a front page story which has since become rather controversial, repeating reports that Russia has actively aiding Iran’s ballistic missile programs, supplying them with production facilities, diagrams, and operating instructions. Some aid is also said to have come from North Korea, via Russians, from the North Korean missile program which are said to be based on the Soviet/Russian SS-N-6 missile. The story comes as Condoleezza Rice met with Russian officials about that country’s aid to Iran’s nuclear program. From the Telegraph:
The Russians are acting as go-betweens with North Korea as part of a multi-million pound deal they negotiated between Teheran and Pyongyang in 2003. It has enabled Teheran to receive regular clandestine shipments of top secret missile technology, believed to be channeled through Russia.
Western intelligence officials believe that the technology will enable Iran to complete development of a missile with a range of 2,200 miles, capable of hitting much of Europe. It is designed to carry a 1.2-ton payload, sufficient for a basic nuclear device.
The revelation raises the stakes in the confrontation between Iran’s Islamic regime and the West - led by the United States and European countries including Britain.
…Iran’s longest-range missile is the Shahab 3, which, with an 800-mile range, could hit Israel. The North Korean deal will allow the Iranian missile to reach targets far into Europe - including Rome, Berlin, and much of France.
North Korea has developed a missile, the Taepo Dong 2, that could reach America’s west coast, based on the submarine-launched Soviet SSN6. Modifications allow it to be fired from a land-based transporter and this technology is being smuggled to Teheran with Russian help.
Russians have provided production facilities, diagrams and operating instruction so the missile can be built in Iran. Liquid propellant has been shipped to Iran. Russian specialists have also been sent to Iran to help development of its Shahab 5 missile project, which the Iranians hope to have operational by the end of the decade.
Such reports about Russian proliferation to Iran are, however, nothing new, and the sensation generated is probably as much due to the timing than the substance.
Russian news agencies Interfax and RIA-Novosti reported Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov calling the Telegraph report “delirium, nonsense,” and saying Russia aims “to observe scrupulously the non-proliferation regime.”
The head of the Duma International Affairs Committee Kostantin Kosachev also denied the reports, speaking to Interfax:
“As a member of parliament, I believe that the relevant Russian bodies, i.e. the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the FSB [Federal Security Service] and others, should quickly and effectively react to this article, in order to prevent the possibility of the spiral of insinuations spinning out of control. However, I have no doubt as to what the contents of our response will be: Russia cannot have cooperated with Iran and North Korea, and certainly did not do this,” Kosachev said during an interview for Interfax.
Pravda quoted Russian “experts” who stressed that such proliferated was unlikely done with Russia’s permission but that Russian scientists could have done in of their own accord:
“Without the president’s permission no one could do it,” Georgy Mirsky, an Academy of Sciences researcher, told Ekho Moskvy radio. “Would (President Vladimir) Putin compromise himself this way, to help them create missiles?”
Mirsky called the report “absurd,” saying that only an official organization would be able to transfer the technology and no one would dare do that without the Kremlin’s permission.
Another expert said, however, that it was possible retired military officers had transferred some missile technology from the former Soviet Union. Still, said Ruslan Pukhov, chief of the Center for Strategic and Technological Analysis, that doesn’t mean that the government of either Putin or his predecessor Boris Yeltsin had helped Iran acquire nuclear technology, Ekho Moskvy reported.
Independent expert Alexander Golts told the radio station that it was more likely that people tied with the Russian defense industry would be in a position to sell Iran missile technology _ just as they did to Iraq, he said.
“It could be the operation of some people who decided to make a quick buck, counting on the positive attitude of the country’s highest leaders,” Golts said.
(Article)» Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denies
» Parliament member Kosachev denies
» Pravda: experts differ on Iran missile proliferation connection
» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation, Russia
