Putin to attend Caspian summit in Tehran

Oct 8, 2007, 17:10 GMT

Moscow - President Vladimir Putin is slated to attend the 2nd Summit of Caspian States in the Iranian capital Tehran on October 16, amid international controversy over Iran's nuclear programme, Kremlin spokesman Dimtri Peskov told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Monday.

Any official visit by Putin to Iran is certain to excite international attention, with growing fears in the west that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to build nuclear weapons at the Bushehr atomic power plant which Russia has helped to build.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back the start-up date for the plant, citing delays in payments from Tehran. Iranian officials deny any payment issues and claim the technology is for civilian use only.

Observers comment that Russia has delayed deliveries of fuel to the Bushehr power plant because it does not fully trust Iranian Ahmadinejad and fears an international backlash.

The United States and some European countries want to sanction Iran, believing its atomic energy programme is a cover for ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

Putin could be expected to discuss the Bushehr reactor and sanctions, which Russia opposes, on the sidelines of the conference.

Analyst Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of journal Russia In Global Affairs, anticipated that Putin's plan to meet with his French and German counterparts in separate bilateral talks this week were possibly part of an effort to formulate a proposal to take to Iran.

France has taken a harder stance advocating sanctions for Iran, to stall possible US military action, while Germany and Russia are looking for a softer solution, Lukyanov said.

'Putin is going to the 2nd Summit of Caspian States in Tehran. This will, of course, be a very important pretext for addressing these issues (Iran) with the French president,' Peskov said of the agenda for French President Nicholas Sarkozy's two-day meeting with Putin from Tuesday.

At the presidential conference in Tehran on October 16, the five Caspian states - Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan - are expected to discuss how best to divide the resource-rich sea bed.

The geopolitical significance of the region has increased with Europe's plan to diversify its energy resources with a pipeline along the seabed to carry gas from Central Asia through Turkey bypassing Russia.

Meanwhile energy is also at the top of the agenda when Putin travels to Germany for meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel toward the end of the week.