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Putin, Bush Warn Iran, N. Korea
Agence France Presse, Arab News
CAMP DAVID, 28 September 2003 — The US and Russian presidents sent a strong warning to Iran and North Korea yesterday over their nuclear programs, but the Russian leader said a new UN resolution must be passed before his country will help in Iraq.
The warning came after a summit between US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was marked by signs of an increasingly strong relationship, despite their differences.
The two-day summit at the Camp David presidential retreat concentrated on the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea — two members of Bush’s so-called “axis of evil” — and US attempts to secure international help in Iraq.
Putin, whose country is helping Iran to build a nuclear reactor, told a joint press conference that a “clear but respectful signal” should be sent to Tehran about the need to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over its nuclear facilities.
Putin went on that “Russia has no desire and no plans to contribute in any way to the creation of weapons of mass destruction, either in Iran or any other spot or region in the world.”
The United States has accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and is pressing Russia not to complete an accord that would allow Iran’s first nuclear power plant to go online in 2005. The IAEA has set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to account for its nuclear activities. But the agency has postponed sending a monitoring mission that was to leave Sunday, to give Iran more time to prepare.
Russia is meanwhile stalling on an accord to provide uranium fuel for the new reactor.
Bush said Russia and the US “share a common goal, and that is to make sure Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon, or a nuclear weapons program.”
“We also understand that we need to work together to convince Iran to abandon any ambition she may have,” Bush added.
The US leader said the two countries had to work with other nations “so that there is a common voice on this issue.”
Turning to North Korea, which the United States says already has nuclear weapons, Putin said a “favorable atmosphere for a constructive dialogue” must be built up to entice Pyongyang to end its weapons drive.
Putin said a “priority” must now be made of trying to defuse the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula caused by the new nuclear crisis and creating “a favorable atmosphere for a constructive dialogue.”
He said, “Russia believes that ensuring nuclear nonproliferation should be accompanied by extending to North Korea guarantees in the security sphere. We intend to continue our joint work with the United States in resolving this issue.”
Russia and the US were among the five nations that held talks with North Korea in Beijing last month on its nuclear program.
Putin said Russia’s contribution to policing and rebuilding Iraq could only be decided after a new UN resolution is passed, which sets out a United Nations role in the war-stricken country now run by a US-led coalition.
The Russian leader insisted his country wants to see Iraq normalized “as soon as possible.”
He added: “At the same time, we understand it is a complicated process that should be based on a solid legal and administrative basis and should go ahead stage by stage.
“The degree and extent and level of Russia’s participation in the restoration of Iraq will be determined when we know the parameters of the new resolution on Iraq,” Putin told the press conference.
But Bush insisted he was still “pleased” with the level of international help he is getting in Iraq.
“I recognize that some countries are inhibited from participation because of the lack of a UN resolution. We are working to get a satisfactory resolution out of the United Nations. We spent some time talking about that today.”
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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