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RUSSIA TO OPPOSE WAR AGAINST IRAN
By Fred Weir
Gulf News
Jan 19 2012
UAE
Kremlin orders the military to prepare for any possible spillover,
reports say
7.Moscow: As tensions ratchet up in the Gulf, the Kremlin is signalling
that it will use all its diplomatic influence to oppose war and,
according to a leading Moscow newspaper, has ordered the military to
prepare for any possible spillover from a conflict between Iran and
the US into the sensitive post-Soviet Caucasus region.
Russia will block any further sanctions against Iran in the UN
Security Council, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday,
because it believes rising tensions could trigger a conflict that
would destabilise the wider region. Last week Russian deputy prime
minister and former ambassador to Nato Dmitry Rogozin warned that any
Western attack on Iran would constitute "a direct threat to [Russian]
national security".
The independent Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Monday
that this year's annual military exercises in Russia's south, Kavkaz
2012, will be much larger than usual and organised around the premise
of a war that begins with an attack on Iran but spreads to neighbouring
Armenia and Azerbaijan, and draws Russia into a regional maelstrom.
Manoeuvres
The newspaper said the war games, which are usually confined to
Russian territory, might this year include manoeuvres in the breakaway
Georgian statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and perhaps also
in Russian-allied Armenia.
"We believe that sanctions relative to Iran have lost their
usefulness," Gennady Gatilov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told a
Moscow press conference yesterday. "We will oppose any new resolution
[on UN sanctions against Iran]....
"Russia would consider any use of force against the territory of Iran
unacceptable. That would make the situation even more critical....
Unfortunately, many [Western] government leaders are not restraining
themselves and are speaking openly about a military strike against
Iran," Gatilov added.
Atomic weapons
A harsh sanctions regime, signed into law by US President Barack Obama
two weeks ago, would target Iran's ability to earn cash through oil
exports by penalising Western companies who clear payments through
Iran's central bank. The European Union could enact its own sanctions
against Iranian oil exports as early as next week.
Russian experts say that Moscow opposes Iran's alleged drive for
atomic weapons, but may fear the consequences of a military strike
aimed at curbing the country's nuclear programme more.
"War in Iran could create a new situation in the wider Caucasus and
the Caspian Basin, which would a very serious challenge to Russia,"
says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading
Moscow-based foreign policy journal. "There is a high degree of
uncertainty about what would happen in neighbouring regions. How
would it affect the situation around Nagorno Karabakh, for instance?"
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a savage war in the 1990s over the
tiny Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which ended with
Armenia annexing the territory and some surrounding regions.
- Christian Science Monitor
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iran/russia-to-oppose-war-against-iran-1.967789
By Fred Weir
Gulf News
Jan 19 2012
UAE
Kremlin orders the military to prepare for any possible spillover,
reports say
7.Moscow: As tensions ratchet up in the Gulf, the Kremlin is signalling
that it will use all its diplomatic influence to oppose war and,
according to a leading Moscow newspaper, has ordered the military to
prepare for any possible spillover from a conflict between Iran and
the US into the sensitive post-Soviet Caucasus region.
Russia will block any further sanctions against Iran in the UN
Security Council, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday,
because it believes rising tensions could trigger a conflict that
would destabilise the wider region. Last week Russian deputy prime
minister and former ambassador to Nato Dmitry Rogozin warned that any
Western attack on Iran would constitute "a direct threat to [Russian]
national security".
The independent Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Monday
that this year's annual military exercises in Russia's south, Kavkaz
2012, will be much larger than usual and organised around the premise
of a war that begins with an attack on Iran but spreads to neighbouring
Armenia and Azerbaijan, and draws Russia into a regional maelstrom.
Manoeuvres
The newspaper said the war games, which are usually confined to
Russian territory, might this year include manoeuvres in the breakaway
Georgian statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and perhaps also
in Russian-allied Armenia.
"We believe that sanctions relative to Iran have lost their
usefulness," Gennady Gatilov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told a
Moscow press conference yesterday. "We will oppose any new resolution
[on UN sanctions against Iran]....
"Russia would consider any use of force against the territory of Iran
unacceptable. That would make the situation even more critical....
Unfortunately, many [Western] government leaders are not restraining
themselves and are speaking openly about a military strike against
Iran," Gatilov added.
Atomic weapons
A harsh sanctions regime, signed into law by US President Barack Obama
two weeks ago, would target Iran's ability to earn cash through oil
exports by penalising Western companies who clear payments through
Iran's central bank. The European Union could enact its own sanctions
against Iranian oil exports as early as next week.
Russian experts say that Moscow opposes Iran's alleged drive for
atomic weapons, but may fear the consequences of a military strike
aimed at curbing the country's nuclear programme more.
"War in Iran could create a new situation in the wider Caucasus and
the Caspian Basin, which would a very serious challenge to Russia,"
says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading
Moscow-based foreign policy journal. "There is a high degree of
uncertainty about what would happen in neighbouring regions. How
would it affect the situation around Nagorno Karabakh, for instance?"
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a savage war in the 1990s over the
tiny Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which ended with
Armenia annexing the territory and some surrounding regions.
- Christian Science Monitor
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iran/russia-to-oppose-war-against-iran-1.967789