Free Republic

The decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council has thrown into sharp focus relations between Iran and Russia. Moscow may soon have to choose whether to back Iran or align itself with the US and the European Union (EU) in reining in Iran's nuclear intentions. Russia appears ready to co-operate with both the USA and Iran in order to boost its trade relations with the two countries. Although Russia is also a leading oil exporter and therefore unlikely to be intimidated by Iranian threats to reduce oil sales, the...

Ljubljana, 6 December (RFE/RL) -- The United States has told Moscow that it will not sign a new treaty on conventional military forces until Russia withdraws all its troops and equipment from separatist republics in Georgia and Moldova. The U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Nicholas Burns, said today at a meeting of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana that it was impossible to reconcile the continued presence of Russian troops with the arms treaty. "A basic principle of the CFE (Conventional Forces Europe) Treaty is the right of sovereign states...