Moscow will help Tehran to enter the SCO

Moscow and Tehran have reached an agreement on joint action for Tehran's full membership in the SCO: at the moment, Iran is an observer, the Iranian embassy in Russia said.

 

The agreement between the two countries was signed during a Special Representative of the Iranian leadership, Ali Akbar Velayati's visit to the Russian capital.

 

Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin received a special representative of Iran’s president Ali Akbar Velayati. They discussed a number of issues of bilateral relations, as well as some regional and international problems. During the meeting Velayati handed over a message from President Hassan Rouhani to Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reported.

 

As the deputy director of the Institute of Forecasting and Political Regulation, Alexander Kuznetsov told "Vestnik Kavkaza", Russia is involved in the negotiations to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, and it has unequivocally reaffirmed the position that Moscow is against Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. "That is why our country joined the international sanctions in 2010, although, in my opinion, it was quite reckless and ill-conceived, there was no need to join the sanctions in this format. Therefore, Russia, I think, will not suspect that it has pandered to Iran. But now there has been progress in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue in the negotiations. You know that even the IAEA, quite a biased, pro-American organization, recognized in November 2014 that 95% of the future agreement has already been worked out. 95% of the questions have been agreed, and only 5% are procedural issues. Therefore, Russia is above reproach," the expert said."The Americans today are interested in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue more than others. I have no doubt that this year it will be resolved. Аn agreement will be signed and produced by June. Therefore, we cannot say that Russia is somehow helping Iran to escape from the auspices of international law. They have raises the question of SCO relations for a long time, and even after the establishment of the organization in 2006-2007 Iran expressed its desire to join the group, so there is nothing unexpected. Now some progress was achieved, specific details were agreed. I know that in the beginning, when Iran was trying to join the SCO, there was not a very positive reaction from China and Kazakhstan. I think now these issues are resolved by allies in the SCO, and the process of Iran's accession to the organization will be accelerated," Alexander Kuznetsov assured.

As the deputy director of the Institute of Forecasting and Political Regulation, Alexander Kuznetsov told "Vestnik Kavkaza", Russia is involved in the negotiations to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, and it has unequivocally reaffirmed the position that Moscow is against Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.

 

"That is why our country joined the international sanctions in 2010, although, in my opinion, it was quite reckless and ill-conceived, there was no need to join the sanctions in this format. Therefore, Russia, I think, will not suspect that it has pandered to Iran. But now there has been progress in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue in the negotiations. You know that even the IAEA, quite a biased, pro-American organization, recognized in November 2014 that 95% of the future agreement has already been worked out. 95% of the questions have been agreed, and only 5% are procedural issues. Therefore, Russia is above reproach," the expert said.

 

"The Americans today are interested in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue more than others. I have no doubt that this year it will be resolved. Аn agreement will be signed and produced by June. Therefore, we cannot say that Russia is somehow helping Iran to escape from the auspices of international law. They have raises the question of SCO relations for a long time, and even after the establishment of the organization in 2006-2007 Iran expressed its desire to join the group, so there is nothing unexpected. Now some progress was achieved, specific details were agreed. I know that in the beginning, when Iran was trying to join the SCO, there was not a very positive reaction from China and Kazakhstan. I think now these issues are resolved by allies in the SCO, and the process of Iran's accession to the organization will be accelerated," Alexander Kuznetsov assured.

 

Talking about rivalry between Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran, the political scientist stressed that "Russia has never seen a particular competitor in Iran. As for Kazakhstan, it's probably been rethinking some of the political positions taken by the Kazakh leadership."

 

As for the possibility that the adoption of Iran in the SCO could become a catalyst for Ukraine joining NATO, the scientist said that we cannot build any parallels: "NATO is a political-military organization. The SCO is more an economic and political organization. The SCO is not a military bloc, if you read carefully the charter of the organization. But certain meetings are held in the area of security. But there are no joint military forces of the SCO, such as the armed forces of NATO, or bases of foreign states on the territory of other states, for example. There are Russian bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, but they are based on bilateral agreements, and not in the framework of the SCO," Alexander Kuznetsov concluded.