Russia wants the United States to guarantee that Washington's unilateral sanctions against Iran will not affect Russian companies, a Kremlin aid has said.
The decision by the Obama administration to impose new sanctions against Iran followed a relevant resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on June 9. The European Union has also decided to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran.
Speaking on the eve of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Washington, which will begin later on Tuesday, Sergei Prikhodko told reporters in Moscow that Russia had been affected by a previous UN resolution imposing sanctions on Iran.
A number of laws introduced in Germany to implement the resolution appeared to ban the transportation of Russia's cargo via Germany to Iran, where Russia is building the Bushehr nuclear power plant under IAEA supervision, he said.
"There have been no such cases from the U.S. side so far, but we want to prevent them and have some guarantees concerning the issue," Prikhodko said.
The new UN resolution seeks sanctions against Iranian banks operating abroad if there is suspicion that they are operating in the development of Iran's nuclear or rocket programs. The sanctions also target Iran's insurance and oil companies and expand a UN embargo on arms deliveries to Iran.
Washington has included some 30 more companies and individuals in the blacklist to force Iran to quit its nuclear activities. Western powers accuse the Islamic Republic of attempting to build nuclear weapons under the guise of civilian nuclear generation,.
Medvedev has criticized the United States' and EU's decisions by saying unilateral sanctions against Iran may only aggravate the current situation and inflict damage upon the dialogue with Tehran.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said it was "disappointed" with the decisions, which "undermine the basis of dialogue and cooperation" on Iran.
MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti)
