Free Republic

In 1995, former Iranian president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani made a little-noticed trip to the neighboring country of Georgia. He spent several hours in Tbilisi, the capital, and then instead of returning to Iran, he made a secret side trip to the breakaway region of Adjara to visit President Aslan Abashidze. The purpose of the detour was not to visit the balmy, palm-treed tourist sea port resort of Batumi on the Black Sea. His purpose was more sinister. The Iranian president was looking for black market sources of chemicals to enrich uranium for building a nuclear bomb. He found a willing...

Russia sells anti-missile systems in Iran MOSCOW - Iran signed a contract with Russia on the sale of 29 Russian systems anti-missile Tor M-1, affirmed Friday the financial daily newspaper Russian Vedomosti, quoting sources in Russian military industry. "Iran will defend itself against the United States and Israel with the Russian systems Tor M-1", titrated Vedomosti with the one. According to the sources of the daily newspaper, expressing itself under cover of anonymity, 29 systems' anti-missile Tor M-1 able to intercept cruise missiles and airborne bombs were manufactured by the military factory Koupol with Ijevsk (the Volga) for Greece...

According to former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, now Russian ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia is more to blame for the Soviet genocide against Ukrainians than Russia. Chernomyrdin told journalists, "If we speak about terror in the times of the U.S.S.R., as a result of that, the number of Russians killed was far greater than that of Ukrainians. We still cannot answer to our people for that. If anyone is to receive claims, address them to Georgia, the 'father of nations' Joseph Stalin was from that country." During the U.S.S.R.'s 1932-1933 collectivization drive, an estimated 5 million to 7 million Ukrainians...

The State Department and some lawmakers are waxing indignant about newspaper disclosures of a secret 1995 deal between Vice President Al Gore and then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. After the newspaper reports were published, the State Department acknowledged this week that Mr. Gore assured Russia that the United States would not sanction the Kremlin for Russian arm sales to Iran, if they stopped by 1999. But rather than acknowledge the adverse impact this underhanded arrangement could have on national security, the State Department and legislators have lashed out at the newspapers that disclosed the Gore-Chernomyrdin arrangement. "I hope this is...