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Albright Raises Kosovo, Iran Before Russia Trip
MOSCOW, (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking on Sunday on the eve of a visit to Moscow, listed problems ranging from Kosovo to the spread of weapons of mass destruction that needed to be addressed.
She stressed in an interview with NTV commercial television that U.S.-Russian relations were crucial.
"We are talking about relations between two great states which carry great responsibility," said Albright, who arrives on Monday for what is expected to be a tough visit to discuss a number of issues that have soured ties in recent months.
"I think we have good relations which occupy the key position in the policies of our two countries," she said.
Albright, whose remarks were broadcast in Russian, is expected to meet Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and several other top officials.
It is unclear whether she will meet President Boris Yeltsin, who is in hospital with ulcers, but Kremlin officials indicated a telephone conversation between them might be arranged.
Albright said Washington was alarmed by Iran's alleged plans to develop nuclear weapons, as well as by the role of some Russian companies and research institutes in helping Tehran.
Washington introduced sanctions this month against three Russian institutes it accused of cooperating with Iran.
"We are deeply worried about the spread of weapons of mass destruction," she said. "We have enough heavy proof that they had certain relations (with Iran), which are counterproductive and do not help your country, my country and other countries trying to protect themselves against this threat."
Yeltsin's chief-of-staff Nikolai Bordyuzha, a career officer of Soviet Union's KGB secret service, shrugged off such fears when he spoke afterwards in the same programme.
Bordyuzha said Russia had set up its own system to control any leak of nuclear or missile technology abroad.
"We had some facts but they were treated properly," he said about attempts to smuggle out military technology. "We don't always make public our steps, but we make these steps."
Bordyuzha also criticised Washington for failing to present facts about leaks of military technology from Russia and said this could not be explained by the need for security.
"We always propose a constructive dialogue-- give us the facts and we will check them," Bordyuzha said, adding: "It is not a dialogue when one simply says we have some facts and launch sanctions."
Albright also moved to calm Russian worries about U.S. plans to launch its own National Missile Defence, which may require changes in the 1972 U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
"The decision about the programme has not been made yet," she said. "The final decision can be made in a year or two only if the need for it is proven."
"The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty remains the cornerstone of the whole process of arms control," Albright added. "In the past some changes have been made in it under bilateral agreement and it may be changed again if the two sides come to terms."
Albright also said Washington was interested in working out a common position on the crisis over Kosovo, the rebel Serbian province where a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians has brought NATO to the brink of air strikes against Yugoslav targets over what it sees as Belgrade's refusal to cooperate.
Russia bitterly opposes the use of force.
"The international community must think about ways to reach a political settlement," Albright said. "As far as the United States are concerned, its position is worked out in cooperation with the international community, with NATO and with the United Nations."
Ahead of Albright's visit, U.S. officials said she was planning to discuss Russia's failure to ratify the START II arms reduction treaty, Washington's desire to kick off negotiations on a START III treaty and amendments to a Conventional Forces in Europe agreement to accommodate the eastward expansion of NATO.
Iran Turns down U.S. Appeal on Ties Resumption
TEHRAN - XINHUA - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Saturday turned down an appeal by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on resumption of bilateral ties.
Asefi said that due to lack of practical changes in the U.S. behavior toward Iran, no new development has taken place in Tehran-Washington relations, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Albright Thursday reiterated that Washington is ready to resume ties with Iran under certain conditions, said IRNA. But it did not give details of Albright's remarks.
Asefi said that despite some positive remarks made by U.S. officials every now and then, there are still contradictions between their words and deeds.
Since the interview of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami with the CNN in January, 1998, top U.S. officials have voiced Washington's readiness to open a new chapter for Washington-Tehran ties.
In his ground-breaking interview, Khatami called for exchanges between peoples of the two nations to pave the way for a rapprochement. But Iranian leaders later set the conditions that the U.S. must change its policy toward Iran.
US, Iran Gain Award for World Cup Gift Exchange
From News Services and Staff Reports
Sometimes gift giving is all right.
An exchange of gifts between players from the United States and Iran during last summer's World Cup has won the countries FIFA's 1998 fair play prize.
The national associations share the award from world soccer's governing body with the Northern Ireland Football Association for its work in reuniting Protestant and Catholic communities in the province.
"In the middle of the World Cup the Iranians and Americans provided a powerful demonstration of the effects of fair play," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter. "They not only joined in the spirit of FIFA's Fair Play Day on June 21 by posing together for photographs before their match in Lyon, but also exchanged flowers and gifts among the players."
Despite decades of political tension between the two countries, both teams and fans mixed amicably during the match, won by Iran, 2-1.
"The award, like that to Northern Ireland, is also intended to be symbolic for many other countries which have found themselves in a comparable situation," Blatter said.
FIFA said the work in Northern Ireland was exemplified by a match in Belfast on Nov. 30 between Cliftonville and Linfield, the first time the teams had been allowed to play at Cliftonville's Solitude Stadium for almost 30 years because of sectarian tensions.
Iran Should Not Be in Isolation Forever, Albright
WASHINGTON, (Itar-Tass) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright believes that such a country as Iran should not be in isolation forever. She said this in a speech to the Centre for National Policy on Thursday, motivating this view by Iran's size, importance and geographic position.
Albright confirmed that the United States had shown much interest in the news that Mohammad Khatami had been elected Iranian president. Washington analysts arrived at the conclusion that Khatami had been able to gain the support of broad sections of the public in the election struggle. US strategists believe that there was promise in the fact that Khatami had support among women and young people.
Albright acknowledged that this prompted her to respond to the Iranian leader's initiative expressed in a CNN interview in January 1998, when Khatami said that Iran is ready for a dialogue with the United States, "a dialogue between cilivisations and cultures". Somewhat later the US secretaty of state delivered a speech that, she said now, largely mirrored the Iranian president's remarks.
By all indications, Washington's hopes for this indirect exchange of messages have not been justified. Developments clearly showed, Albright said, that Khatami is now living through difficult times as regards politics and that a confrontation of internal factions and factors is now on in Iran.
Albright confirmed that the United States is prepared for a dialogue with Iran, sanctioned and recognised, in whose framework both governments could raise problems evoking their concern. Without saying whether this readiness is reciprocated by Teheran, Albright noted that the United States so far encourages the possibility of individual and group exchanges between people of the two countries.
Dutch Say Iranians Lacking Asylum Must Go Home
THE HAGUE,(Reuters) - Iranians who have not received asylum from the Netherlands must return to Iran, the Dutch cabinet said on Friday.
In a position paper issued to the cabinet, Dutch Junior Justice Minister Job Cohen said the situation in Iran was now secure enough for those on temporary permits living in the Netherlands to return to Iran.
It did not specify any immediate plans to begin deportations.
About 4,600 Iranians are currently living in Dutch asylum centres.
The cabinet also said it would stop issuing temporary permits to new Iranian refugees who do not meet the asylum requirements.
However, it said it would continue to grant asylum to Iranian refugees facing persecution, including intellectuals, writers, journalists, homosexuals and members of the Baha'i religious sect.
The Dutch government has been struggling to craft policies to handle an influx of refugees expected to soar to 65,000 in 1999 from 20,000 in 1998.
Sale of U.S. Food to Iran Suggested
By Barry Schweid
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Arguing that it is time to test curbs on food exports while the United States enjoys a surplus, a group of farm-state members of Congress is asking the Clinton administration to approve sale of more than $500 million worth of American grain and sugar to Iran.
The request is under review at the White House, the State Department and the Treasury Department, which would be required to issue a license. The proposal tests how far administration policy-makers believe Iran has moved toward moderation.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has made cautious overtures to Iran based on a judgment that President Mohammad Khatami represents a new moderation in Tehran.
His election in 1997 prompted a series of tentative feelers on both sides, including wrestlers attending tournaments in the two countries. ``We are ready to engage in a process in which each side is able to address the other's concerns,'' Albright said last September while also saying it would take time and patience to re-establish good relations.
Meanwhile, President Clinton's offer of a dialogue has been rejected by Tehran.
A bipartisan group of farm-state members of Congress argues that it is time to test the validity of sanctions on food exports and whether militant fundamentalism is yielding to moderation. Besides, they argued in a letter last month, the United States has a marketable grain surplus.
In a cleric-directed revolution, militants overthrew the Western-looking shah in 1979, sacked the U.S. Embassy and took most of the Americans there hostage. In 1980, the United States formally broke relations with Iran.