Russia backs off Middle East conference plan
Reuters
Date: 04-28-05
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Russia backed away on Thursday from the idea of holding a Middle East peace conference in Moscow after Israel and the United States both rejected the suggestion as premature.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had broached the plan on Wednesday while visiting Egypt before making a first visit by a Kremlin leader to the Jewish state.
He had proposed an autumn conference in Moscow with all the concerned states.
But after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed his objections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there had been "a misunderstanding" about the proposal.
Lavrov said what Putin had meant was "to think about holding a meeting of experts at a high level in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process".
A statement from Sharon's office said the Israeli leader told Putin "an international conference would be convened at the second stage" of a U.S. and Russian-backed road map peace plan "and no sooner."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan had concurred "we are not at that stage now" to convene an international conference.
Sharon has put peacemaking on hold until the Palestinians disarm militants under the road map's first phase.
According to the Israeli statement, Putin reassured Sharon at their meeting "we weren't speaking of convening any forum without Israel's agreement."
Russia has been keen for an important role in Middle East peacemaking, a status Moscow lost after the Soviet collapse. Israel has been happy to keep Washington as the main power broker in the region.
PUTIN HARDENS LINE ON IRAN
Putin also sought to soothe Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, hardening his line on the issue by telling a news conference in Jerusalem that Tehran should do more to assure the world it was not trying to build atomic weapons.
He said Iran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia -- which agreed to supply the material to Iran's Bushehr plant -- "does not seem to be enough".
In addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control", Putin said.
Putin later told Sharon "Iran's nuclear potential is just as frightening to Russia as it is to Israel, and Russia will not permit Iran to build a nuclear bomb," Sharon's office said.
Iran has long denied accusations it is secretly seeking nuclear arms and has received strong backing from Putin, who sees cooperation with the Islamic Republic as a way to strengthen Russia's role in the Middle East.
In February, Moscow and Tehran signed the fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington, which believes Iran could use Russian know-how to make nuclear weapons.
Putin took fire from Israeli President Moshe Katsav over a Russian missile deal with Syria.
"Israel is still forced to fight terrorism and the Russian missiles could limit our ability to (do so)," Katsav told a joint news conference, referring to Israel's fears the weapons could wind up in the hands of Lebanese militants on its border.
Putin said the Strelet missiles involved in the deal were vehicle-mounted, short-range and could not be turned into shoulder-launched missiles.
Another controversy with Israel could arise after Putin meets Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Lavrov said they would discuss ways to boost Palestinian security forces in the West Ban and Gaza.
Putin toured the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem that documents the Nazi killings of six million Jews during World War II. He laid a wreath there and wrote in a memorial book: "This type of tragedy must never happen again."
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