OB Kenobi
07-09-2004, 03:42 AM
U.S. ENDS SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN DEFENSE FIRMS
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has begun to roll back sanctions imposed on Russian defense firms that assisted Iran's missile programs.
The State Department said it had waived sanctions on six Russian companies deemed as suppliers to Iran's intermediate-range missile programs. The department, in a notice published in the Federal Register, said the waivers were based on U.S. national security interests.
Officials said the waivers marked the first formal recognition that Russian defense firms had reduced their assistance to Iran's missile and weapons of mass destruction program. They said that over the last three years such countries as China, North Korea and Pakistan had supplanted Russian suppliers.
The State Department identified the Russian companies whose sanctions were lifted as Europalace 2000, Grafit, MOSO Company, the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Power Technology, TZNII Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Machine-Building and the Volsk Mechanical Plant. Sanctions on these companies were first imposed in 1998 when the U.S. intelligence community acknowledged the progress of Iran's Shihab-3 intermediate missile program.
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has begun to roll back sanctions imposed on Russian defense firms that assisted Iran's missile programs.
The State Department said it had waived sanctions on six Russian companies deemed as suppliers to Iran's intermediate-range missile programs. The department, in a notice published in the Federal Register, said the waivers were based on U.S. national security interests.
Officials said the waivers marked the first formal recognition that Russian defense firms had reduced their assistance to Iran's missile and weapons of mass destruction program. They said that over the last three years such countries as China, North Korea and Pakistan had supplanted Russian suppliers.
The State Department identified the Russian companies whose sanctions were lifted as Europalace 2000, Grafit, MOSO Company, the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Power Technology, TZNII Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Machine-Building and the Volsk Mechanical Plant. Sanctions on these companies were first imposed in 1998 when the U.S. intelligence community acknowledged the progress of Iran's Shihab-3 intermediate missile program.