Clinton Fails To Win Russia Pledge On Iran Sanction

CLINTON FAILS TO WIN RUSSIA PLEDGE ON IRAN SANCTIONS
By Jeff Mason and Michael Stott

Reuters
Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:23pm EDT

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
failed to win specific pledges from Moscow on tougher sanctions against
Iran during a visit to Russia on Tuesday but hailed progress in other
areas such as arms control.

A senior U.S. official had said before the talks that Clinton wanted
to know "what specific forms of pressure Russia would be prepared
to join us and our other allies in" if Iran did not keep promises to
the international community not to pursue nuclear weapons.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov restated at a news conference with
Clinton Russia’s position that any talk of sanctions against Iran at
this stage was counter-productive.

"All forces should be aimed at supporting talks," he said.

A U.S. official later told reporters of the Russian side: "They said
they weren’t ready in this context to talk specifically about what
steps they would be willing to take."

The Russian side preferred to discuss any possible moves against Iran
in the context of the United Nations, the official added, speaking
on condition he was not identified.

Clinton praised "very comprehensive and productive" discussions with
Lavrov, saying they were further evidence of the "reset" in formerly
rocky U.S.-Russia relations.

"I feel very good about the so-called reset," she said.

Clinton insisted at the news conference she had not sought specific
commitments from Moscow on Iran.

"We did not ask for anything today," she said. "We reviewed the
situation and where it stood, which I think was the appropriate timing
for what this process entails."

Clinton, on her first visit to Russia since taking her post, quoted
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying sanctions against Iran
might be inevitable.

A U.S. official later told reporters Medvedev had told her he expected
Iran to implement its promises on its nuclear programme and if it
did not "there should be sanctions".

"That was ring," the senior State Department official said.

Medvedev has previously made it clear Moscow is ready to back further
sanctions against the Islamic Republic unless it changes course on
its nuclear programme, despite Russia’s general reluctance to support
such punitive measures.

Lavrov said "considerable progress" had been made by U.S. and Russian
negotiators towards a new bilateral treaty cutting their stocks of
strategic nuclear weapons.

They are working to a deadline of December for concluding a treaty
to replace the Cold War-era START pact.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Clinton did not address sensitive issues such as human rights
and democracy at the news conference but met rights activists and
opposition journalists privately at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

Clinton told them, in a reference to killings of Russian journalists
and rights activists:

"A society cannot be truly open when those who stand up and speak
out are murdered. And people cannot trust in the rule of law when
killers act with impunity."

At a Boeing design centre later she said the United States linked
human rights with economic growth. She also said there was "reason
to hope" Boeing would get a contract to build aircraft for Russia’s
new state-run airline.

Clinton met Medvedev at his Barvikha residence outside Moscow, where
the president praised U.S.-Russian efforts to broker a peace deal
between Turkey and Armenia as "a good example of our cooperation".

But Clinton did not see the man most diplomats, analysts and ordinary
Russians consider the true ruler of Russia — Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin. Putin is on a visit to China.

President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap plans for an anti-missile
system located in eastern Europe has helped improve ties with Moscow
after stormy relations under George W. Bush.

Diplomats say that in return, the United States now wants better
Russian cooperation on an array of foreign policy issues such as the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Iran, missile defence and the nuclear
arms reduction treaty.

On missile missile system to replace the Bush-era plan for fixed
radars and anti-missile batteries in central Europe which had upset
the Kremlin.

He was non-committal on U.S. proposals the two sides cooperate on
missile defence.

"The more we know about this concept, the sooner we will come to
an understanding of whether we can work jointly on a project," he
said. (Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney)