Russia’s international builder company Atomstroiexport on Wednesday denied Western press reports that its specialists were pulling out from the site of Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.An anonymous official source of the company told Itar-Tass news agency that Russian specialists were continuing building the Bushehr nuclear power plant. “It was a regular rotation of workers,” the source said while commenting on Western media reports claiming the alleged withdrawal of Russian builders from Iran. “The only stumbling block in the construction of the Bushehr plant is the lack of Iranian financing, which prevents the sending of a new shift of Russian builders to Bushehr,” the source said. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday dismissed Iran’s accusations that the financial snags in the construction of Bushehr plant were of “Russia’s doing.” “Unfortunately, our Iranian partners are not speaking the truth when they say that the problems have emerged through Russia’s fault. Financial problems do exist, but they are related to Iran’s violation of the payment schedule,” Lavrov said while addressing the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. He also made it clear that Moscow will not back “excessive sanctions” against Iran.“Earlier, we agreed to influence Iran step-by-step, taking into account the present situation and we will not back excessive sanctions,” Lavrov said emphaticially, referring to the new draft resolution at the UN Security Council on Tehran’s refusal to stop the enrichment of uranium. The Foreign Minister stressed that there was no connection between completing the Bushehr nuclear power plant and work on a UN Security Council resolution on Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme. He pointed out he had read The New York Times articles quoting some European officials as saying that Moscow had allegedly said there was a “connection.”
