Russia Views Relations with Iran as Mideast Stability Factor

Russia highly values the established level of good-neighborly partnership with Iran and views it as an important factor in the consolidation of stability and security in the Near and Middle East, the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Yakovenko, said in a statement in connection with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's visit to Iran beginning March 11.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman noted, "At the foundation of Russian-Iranian cooperation on the international stage on topical issues of global and regional politics lies mutual commitment of the two countries to the ideas of a multipolar world order." The two nations, Yakovenko said, believe the United Nations has a central role to play in international affairs. The supremacy of international law must form the basis of crisis management. Moscow and Tehran furthermore advocate consolidation of the nuclear weapons nonproliferation regime and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, other regimes for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and prevention of an arms race in space, Yakovenko added.

He stressed, "Russia and Iran are united in their view of the importance of mobilizing the efforts of the international community in the fight against international terrorism as a crucial component of the global system for countering new challenges and threats." On this assumption in Tehran, the spokesman continued, "the ministers will discuss measures for the consolidation of bilateral and international cooperation in the anti-terrorist and anti-drug directions and in the creation of a strong international legal basis for cooperation of this kind."