West seeking to depict Russia as an unreliable partner for Iran: Iranian envoy

TEHRAN,July 29(MNA) - The Iranian ambassador to Moscow said that certain Western countries are making efforts to portray Russia as an unreliable economic partner for Iran. Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sajjadi made the remarks during an interview with the Iranian Khorasan daily published on Saturday when asked if Russia can be a reliable partner for Iran given the fact that the launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant had been delayed several times. Sajjadi stated, “The long delay in launching the Bushehr power plant was good neither for economic interests of the Russians nor the Russian’s technical reputation. But the main reason for the delay was the West’s sanctions. “For instance, the plant’s turbine had to be built in the Kharkov City in Ukraine. That country refused to do so under the pressure from the Americans, and the Russians were compelled to change the place of the manufacture of the turbine to St. Petersburg and build the turbine required by the Bushehr plant based on a new design, and this caused a one-year delay. “Besides, (the failure to) supply many systems required by the plant, which had to be provided by the West, such as electronic control devices, cooling systems, etc., led to repeated delays in the project. “However, as far as I am informed, the Bushehr plant is now working at over 90 percent of its power generation capacity, and it has no problem to reach 100 percent (of its capacity). “But this fact should be acknowledged that the Westerners did not want the project to complete and did every act of obstructionism but failed.” He added, “Given the reasons that I mentioned for the delay (in the launch of) the plant, I think it is somehow unrealistic to draw this conclusion that Russia is not a reliable partner. “In your opinion, why don’t those countries that are seeking to portray Russia as an untrustworthy partner call the Germans, who left the plant unfinished after the Islamic Revolution without any reason and imposed billions of marks (of damage) on our country, an unreliable partner? “(And this happened) when no resolutions had been issued against the Islamic Republic and no problem with Europe had surfaced, while the Russians accomplished the project despite four resolutions that the West had engineered against us. “The issue of the Bushehr plant is a proof that, unlike what is said, we can cooperate with the Russians. I do not say that we should trust them unconditionally. But the issue is that great economic projects, which would also have political aspects, can be carried out in cooperation with the Russians. “I believe that it is the West’s policy to make efforts to depict Russia as an unreliable partner so that we ourselves will abandon the bebefits that we can reap through cooperation with the Russians.” The Iranian ambassador also said, “It should be accepted that today’s world is the world of national interests, and the most valuable thing for the Russians in their foreign policy is their national interests. “And we have cooperated with the country whenever our interests has required… Under the current circumstances, the Russians cannot be expected to act according to our interests and against their interests in regard to various issues. However, it should be noted that I believe that reaching a strategic agreement with Russia is in the interests of both countries and benefits the region, and I hope that we will move in this direction.” Asked about Russia’s stance toward the imposition of sanctions on Iran, Sajjadi said, “The official stance of the Russian government is to condemn illegal sanctions (imposed) by the United States and Europe, and this means that Russia is not seeking to comply with the West’s unilateral sanctions be they oil or banking ones. And as far as the power of the Russian government has allowed, it has contributed to the non-implementation of the sanctions. But there are certain people and parties in Russia that are opposed to us. And, on the other hand, 70 percent of the Russian economy is in the hands of the private sector, and they may create stumbling blocks and problems, and the Russian government is left with no option in this regard.”