Russia denies transfer of missile technology to Iran

"In the state area, there was not and there is not any cooperation with Iran in the sphere of missile technology," Ivanov said at a news conference dedicated to the presentation of the White Book on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"Over the past five to six years, the problems of missile technology leaks have been always discussed in our dialogue with the United States. Russia has repeatedly said that our stance is crystal clear," Ivanov said.

The sole example of Russia's cooperation with Iran in the nuclear sphere is the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Ivanov said.

"But this does not mean the transfer of technology. All spent fuel to the last gram will be moved to Russia," he said.

According to Xinhua news agency, Ivanov said that the United States "has understood the groundlessness of such accusations addressed to Russia; just for this reason, it has lifted a number of restrictions in relation to Roskosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency)."

Ivanov commented on a recent report by The Washington Post alleging that Iranian missile specialists had been trained at Russia's Samara Aerospace University.

"We have checked this information just in case and made sure that this is a canard," he said.

According to Ivanov, all possible channels of sensitive technology leaks from Russia have been shut down.

"Serious work is being carried out in Russia to tighten the control of exporting sensitive technology," Ivanov said, "we have begun this work from zero and achieved certain results. Rigid registration and control of nuclear weapons and hazardous materials has been established."

"All possible channels of leaks of sensitive materials from the territory of Russia are shut down reliably enough. If attempts to obtain them occur, they are stopped by competent organizations," he added.

/www.people.com.cn/