Courcy’s Intelligence Brief

A curiosity of the international reaction to the US mission to kill Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistani territory is that Russia appears to support the move, in contrast to its increasingly strident objections to Nato actions in Libya and warnings about any similar actions in Syria.  Russia’s opposing views on Iran have also been on display in the past week.

Speaking in Moscow last week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden was justified under international law.  He said: “Our position is very simple.  The Security Council passed a resolution after 11 September 2001 in which it clearly recognized the USA’s right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter...The right to self-defence has no limitations.”

This unequivocal Russian support for the US is in contrast to its position on Libya.  On the same day that he was praising US efforts to kill bin Laden, Lavrov said that Nato was targeting Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi and that this was “completely over the top”.  He called for an immediate ceasefire.

Lavrov also said that there was no basis for the UN Security Council to adopt any decisions on Syria.  Speaking to Interfax on 11 May said: “It is obvious that Syria may not be discussed in the Security Council.  There the situation is quite different [from other Arab states].  The opposition there was not peaceful from the very start.”

At the end of last week Lavrov was in Kazakhstan for a council meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).  While there, he reiterated his support for Iran’s entry into the SCO, albeit with the proviso that international sanctions are lifted.   Provided sanctions are lifted, Lavrov said “there will be no obstacles to considering this state’s bid to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization”.

Not coincidentally, just ahead of the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting Iran agreed the implementation of a transit corridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.  The agreement was inked in April and involves the five states of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, and Oman.

In the past week Russia has held up the publication of a UN assessment describing Iranian breaches of sanctions (which also fingers Syria), and it has announced that Iran’s Russian-constructed Bushehr nuclear plant will come on stream “in a matter of weeks”.