(Obama to Russia, sings "IS IT ANY WONDER")
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 21, 2010; 1:08 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- The Obama administration on Friday lifted sanctions against four Russian entities involved in illicit weapons trade with Iran and Syria since 1999, and acknowledged exempting a Russian-Iranian missile deal from a U.N. draft resolution banning most missile sales to Iran.
The move comes just three days after the U.S., Russia and other key powers reached agreement on a draft resolution sanctioning Iran for violating U.N. demands to halt its uranium enrichment program. The draft includes a loophole that would exempt a 2005 Russian deal, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, to sell Tehran five S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.
The removal of the four entities, which was recorded in Friday's Federal Register, suggested that the United States engaged in some last-minute bargaining to ensure Moscow's support for sanctions. The companies include Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, which was sanctioned for its dealing with Iran in 2006 and 2008, and Moscow Aviation Institute, one of three entities sanctioned in 1999 for aiding Iran's development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
The United States launched full-out negotiations Wednesday in the 15-nation security council on a draft resolution that would expand an arms embargo on Iran and tighten financial measures against Iranian elites.
The resolution would ban the sale of eight categories of conventional weapons, "missiles and missile systems as defined for the purpose of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms." The arms register includes ground-to-ground and air-to-ground missile systems, but not defensive ground-to-air missile systems.
Although the resolution does not formally outlaw the sale of such missiles to Iran, it does call upon states to "exercise vigilance and restraint" over the sale of such weapons, according to a U.S. official. "It's worth mentioning that Russia has not transferred the S-300s," the official said. "That's not to say they couldn't do it tomorrow. But they haven't done it."
Critics of the Obama administration cited the concessions as evidence that the U.S. sanctions strategy is foundering. "This creates a loophole big enough to drive a truck through; and it's contrary to long-term U.S. interests," said John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who negotiated previous resolutions against Iran. "I don't think you advance your overall nonproliferation agenda by giving away pieces of its here to get pieces of it somewhere else. I think the Russian and the Chinese see this administration as weak in negotiating skill and that they take advantage of them by trying to raise the price of their support."
The missile defense system can launch a battery of missiles with a range of about 100 miles. They are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and aircraft, making them particularly valuable in the event of an Israeli air attack. The Iranian government has complained to Russia for more than a year for delaying the transfer of the missile system. Moscow, which has come under pressure from the United States and Israel to halt the sale, has repeatedly assured Tehran that it will make good on the deal.
On Monday, the day before agreement on the draft resolution was announced, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in Washington that Russia had "clearly put some red lines" during the negotiations on the resolution. He said the Russia was open to banning sales of heavy weapons systems but when asked about the S-300, he said that is "definitely a defensive system." He, too, noted that it has not been delivered yet to Iran.
The United States also lifted sanctions against D. Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, which was sanctioned in 1999 for aiding Iran's missile program, and Tula Instrument Design Bureau, which was sanctioned the same year for supplying anti-tank equipment to Syria. Since the beginning of the year, the Obama administration has also lifted sanctions against two other Russian firms, Glavkosmos and Baltic State Technical University, for their dealings with Iran.
