BRUSSELS, January 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia does not consider itself bound by the restrictions on oil trade with Iran, Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Russian reporters on Wednesday in the run-up to the Russia-EU summit that will be held in Brussels on January 28. The summit will discuss the Iranian issue, among other things.
“Unlike the United States, the EU has so far not commented in any way on the possibility of Russia’s bartering Russian goods for Iranian oil,” Chizhov said. “I’m sure that if this issue is raised, a clear and unambiguous answer that the oil embargo had been imposed (by the EU and United States) unilaterally, and not by a decision of the UN Security Council, therefore Russia has never been bound by it and in no way it violates the UN Security Council resolution, will be given to it,” Chizhov emphasised.
He also recalled that the EU Council on January 20 had already made a decision on partial lifting of the European sanctions on Iran for a period of six months - for the time of the negotiations. Thus, “the European Union has fulfilled its part of the package agreement with Iran.”
According to Russia's ambassador, on January 20, “a new phase of agreements between the six mediator countries (P5+1) and Iran began.”
“Although the EU formally is not included in the ‘sextet,’ nevertheless it de-facto plays a co-ordination role in the negotiations with the consent of the ‘sextet’ members. And the noticeable progress in negotiations with Iran is our common with the EU success and we give credit to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton for her efforts in this sphere,” Chizhov emphasised.
According to him, the forthcoming summit would also pay considerable attention to the situation in Syria, “irrespective of the results of the discussion at Montreux” where a second peace conference on Syria (Geneva II) opened on Wednesday.