Remarks by Acting Deputy Department spokesperson Mark C. Toner on Russian Reaction to U.S. and E.U. Sanctions on Iran (Excerpts)

June 17, 2010

Weapon Program: 

  • Nuclear

Related Country: 

  • Russia

. . .

QUESTION: The Russian foreign ministry said to today that sanctions such as those that the U.S. unveiled yesterday and EU is unveiling today are unacceptable and might affect future cooperation on nuclear issues. Do you have any reaction to that? Do you think - is there any concern that these unilateral steps are going to upset the applecart as far as international unity goes?

MR. TONER: Well, no. I think the Russians have consistently expressed concerns that any sanctions not impact the Iranian people. And obviously, that's something that - those are concerns that we share. And we agree and we just - we believe that the steps we've announced as well as the EU has announced earlier today are targeted against entities and individuals and not the Iranian people, but rather entities and individuals that support Iran's nuclear and proliferation activity.

QUESTION: It seems as though the Russian position is that they don't think that countries should, sort of, go beyond what the Security Council called for and that that, in a way, subverts the Security Council mandate there. What's your reaction to that?

MR. TONER: Well, again, I think what we've seen is Russians are concerned about - the Russian Government is concerned about any sanctions that might affect the Iranian people. Obviously, we share that concern, but we don't believe that any of these new additional sanctions really go beyond what the 1929 - well, in terms of affecting the Iranian people, that they're more targeted against entities and individuals that support nuclear - Iran's nuclear program.

. . .