Iranian nuclear program is not on agenda for July's summit in St. Petersburg, Russian G-8 envoy says

Photo: Iranian nuclear program is not on agenda for July's summit in St. Petersburg, Russian G-8 envoy says

Russia has called for the summit to concentrate on three major themes: energy security, infectious diseases and education. Igor Shuvalov, a top aide to President Vladimir Putin, said that the main political capital Moscow could gain from the summit would be the G-8 members' acceptance of Russia as an equal partner that shares their values even though it often disagrees with their approach.

He alluded to Russia's past conflicts with the West over Yugoslavia - where it was fiercely opposed to the NATO airstrikes - as well as Iraq, and said Moscow was often accused of being a spoiler just because it has a different understanding of the world, the AP reports.

He defended Russia's record on providing stable energy supplies in spite of allegations that it was using its huge gas and oil reserves to blackmail the West, and said the summit should open the way to a "new, long investment cycle" that would boost the availability of energy resources. He said Russia was so committed to meeting world demand for fossil fuels that it was planning construction of 40 new nuclear reactors at home to provide energy for domestic consumers.