Russia told the US and EU today it was extremely disappointed they were imposing additional sanctions on Iran beyond those approved by the UN Security Council with Moscow's backing.
Moscow called the US and EU sanctions ‘unacceptable’ and warned the West it risked losing Russian support for concerted efforts to rein in Tehran's nuclear activity.
‘We are extremely disappointed that neither the United States nor the European Union is heeding our calls to refrain from such steps,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax and Itar-Tass news agencies.
EU leaders agreed tighter sanctions today targeting Iran's oil and gas sector, a day after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on some Iranian banks, companies and Revolutionary Guard Corps members.
Before joining the US, Britain and France in supporting a fourth round of sanctions in the Security Council last week, Russia had urged Washington and the EU not to hit Tehran with additional measures.
‘For us, attempts to place oneself above the Security Council in this way are unacceptable,’ the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website (www.mid.ru).
The Russian remarks darken the backdrop for President Dmitry Medvedev's trip next week to the US, which is meant to build on recent improvements in ties.
The Foreign Ministry said the additional sanctions would harm joint efforts to press Iran to halt suspect nuclear activities and ensure that it does not acquire atomic weapons.
The US and EU moves ‘undermine the foundations for our dialogue and interaction in seeking optimal ways to resolve the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear program,’ it said.
‘The same story is repeated again and again: as soon as we reach a common understanding in the UN Security Council on a package of finely calibrated measures to influence Iran through sanctions, the United States and EU don't stop at that and, strictly speaking, display political disregard for their partnership with Russia,’ the statement said.
Unilateral sanctions that go beyond UN measures ‘are not just harmful, they undermine the very foundation of our joint work with our partners in the sextet and the Security Council,’ Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying.
The sextet refers to the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members - Russia, the US, China, Britain and France - plus Germany.
The US State Department said the new US and EU sanctions were aimed at tightening the screws on those already targeted by the UN sanctions resolution.
‘The Russians have consistently expressed concerns that any sanctions not impact the Iranian people and obviously those are concerns that we share,’ State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
‘We believe that the steps we've announced as well as (those) the EU has announced earlier today are targeted against entities and individuals, but not the Iranian people.’
Russia's remarks may have been meant in part to soothe Iran, where Moscow has trade interests and is building a nuclear power plant, and to assure Russians ahead of Medvedev's US trip that the Kremlin is not doing the bidding of the US.
Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking atomic weapons, insisting that it wants only peaceful nuclear energy.
While Russia and China used their clout in the Security Council to water down the sanctions, US officials have pointed to Moscow's yes vote as a sign that President Barack Obama's effort to ‘reset’ Russia ties has practical benefits.
Ryabkov reiterated that Russia interprets the UN sanctions as prohibiting it from delivering S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran under a contract the US and Israel urged Moscow not to fulfil.
