Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday signed a decree banning supplies of S-300 missiles and other arms to Iran in a long-awaited move after weeks of deliberations by Russian officials.
“Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree ‘on Measures to implement the United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 from June 9, 2010,’” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The decree published on the Kremlin Web site forbids supplies of the S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, among other weapons.
Under the decree, supplies of any tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, ships and missile systems are forbidden. Russia will also not supply Iran with any technologies related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The decree further bans the transit of arms bound for Iran through Russian territory.
In addition, Iranian citizens or companies will not be allowed to invest in any activities in Russia related to production of uranium.
An aide to Medvedev said in June that the S-300 missile deal would likely be scrapped, but that a formal decision would come in a decree.
The Kremlin made the decree public after Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov told local reporters Moscow had dropped plans to supply Tehran with the S-300s because they were subject to international sanctions.
“A decision has been taken not to supply the S-300 to Iran, they undoubtedly fall under sanctions,” Makarov said in an apparent reference to the UN sanctions, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Makarov, however, did not give a definite answer when asked whether the missile contract itself would be cancelled permanently.
“We will see, this will depend on Iran's behavior,” the Interfax news agency quoted Makarov as saying.
The decree would not mean a complete halt to all military cooperation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Russian reporters in New York.
“We did not add anything to the list [of banned items], but on every point there we will have no further military cooperation with Iran. However, there are other forms [of military cooperation still allowed],” Ryabkov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.
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