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Statement by the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, in which he talked about the possibility of sanctions against Iran, in case of latter's refusal to freeze its nuclear program can be all that U.S. President gets from Russia, said Professor of Anthropology at McGill University, Philip Carl Salzman.
"Russian President Medvedev's verbal support, which is surely a quid pro quo for the U.S. backing down on placing missiles and radar in Poland and the Czech Republic, may be all that U.S. President Obama gets from the Russians," Salzman told Trend News via e-mail.
He also added that it remains to be seen whether Russia backs up its words with actions against Iran. "I am skeptical, because Russia does not see it in their interests to help America," he said.
On Friday at a meeting with students and teachers of the University of Pittsburgh, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program, but not to create nuclear weapons, and international sanctions are possible when all other possibilities exhaust, RIA Novosti reported.
According to the Canadian expert, now, as part of the quid pro quo, Russia can pretend to be cooperative with the U.S. on sanctions against Iran, expecting that nothing will happen because China will veto any such plan.
U.S. and some European countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of peaceful nuclear energy program. To prevent the creation of nuclear weapons and suspend Iran's nuclear program, Western countries do not exclude possibility of introducing energy sanctions against Iran at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Two weeks earlier, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow would not support the new series of tough sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council.
"That way Russia can have it both ways: seem to be cooperative with the U.S., and gain concessions, while not really advancing U.S. interests," Salzman said.
However, Iranian expert Mehran Barati believes that the UN Security Council members can take a common position on Iran's nuclear program and introduce new sanctions against the Islamic Republic not only within the UN Security Council, but each separately.
"Iran claims to be the superpower, but for this, it should have nuclear weapons, Iranian expert who works in Germany told Trend News by telephone from Berlin. - In fact, the West has every reason not to trust Iran".
According to him, the basic contradiction between Iran and the West is not the development of Iran's nuclear program, but the ideological, political and cultural differences.
"If these problems are resolved, Iran's nuclear program will find its own solution," said Barati.
trend.az
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