Ukraine pressured to make decision on sale of turbines needed in Iran (02/22/98)

Ukraine pressured to make decision on sale of turbines needed in Iran

by Pavel Polityuk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Ukraine is coming under increasing pressure from Russia and the United States to make a decision on whether it will sell Russia turbines needed for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran, which Russia is building and which the U.S. opposes.

The Ukrainian government plans to make a final decision about its participation in two to three weeks, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Volodymyr Horbulin said on February 14.

"Our government will make a final decision after further discussing a few details of the deal," said Mr. Horbulin after a meeting with Steven Sestanovich, who heads the U.S. State Department's office on the former Soviet republics. Mr. Sestanovich was in Ukraine on a three-day visit under the aegis of the U.S.-Ukraine Bilateral Commission co-chaired by U.S. Vice-President Albert Gore and President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine.

Ukraine wants to let Turboatom, a manufacturer of turbines located in Kharkiv, sell Russia at least one turbine for use at the nuclear plant it is building in the Iranian city of Bushehr under a $800 million deal with Tehran. The deal has put Ukraine at the center of a conflict between Russia and the United States, even as it struggles to establish itself as a stable, independent state with links both the East and the West.

Washington vehemently opposes the project, because it could help Iran develop nuclear weapons and as a result has been seeking to persuade Ukraine by carrot or by stick not to sell any turbines for use by Iran.

"The United States has a long-standing concern about the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and the development of nuclear technology by countries that act especially irresponsibly in international affairs," said Mr. Sestanovich after his meeting with Mr. Horbulin. "That's why we raise concerns with the many countries with which we have good relations about such cooperation, with Russia, with Ukraine, with China," he added.

Last April, Israel's Trade and Industry Minister Natan Sharansky said President Kuchma had promised him that Ukraine would not provide Russia with turbines for the Bushehr project or "do anything to help Iran, Iraq or Libya create weapons of mass destruction."

Later, however, Ukraine issued the Turboatom plant the document needed to allow it to go ahead with the deal.

When the deal was first made public and the U.S. voiced its concern over Ukraine's participation, Kyiv responded that its supply of turbines to Russia did not contradict any international nuclear proliferation regimes because Turboatom would deal only with Russia.

An Iranian delegation visited Turboatom last year, and at the time officials said Iran wanted two 1,000-megawatt steam turbines worth $50 million each. Turboatom officials said that if the deal with Ukraine fell through, Moscow could supply Iran the turbines from a factory in Russia.

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