Posted on 09/20/2009 3:05:53 PM PDT by null and void
Israel promised Russia it would not launch an attack on Iran, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview aired on Sunday in which he described such an assault as "the worst thing that can be imagined."
Medvedev denied Moscow was backing Iran but said it had the right to supply defensive weapons and said sanctions against Tehran should only be used as a last resort.
An attack would lead to "a humanitarian disaster, a vast number of refugees, Iran's wish to take revenge and not only upon Israel, to be honest, but upon other countries as well,"
"But my Israeli colleagues told me that they were not planning to act in this way and I trust them."
"Our task is not to strengthen Iran and weaken Israel or vice versa but our task is to ensure a normal, calm situation in the Middle East," Medvedev said.
Analysts have been watching for Russian concessions on Iran after the White House on Thursday canceled plans to site elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic
Medvedev said he was hopeful Moscow's relations with Washington would improve under President Barack Obama and described the chances of an agreement on a new treaty to reduce strategic nuclear weapons by year-end as "quite high."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
These are both polite lies, the usual stuff of diplomacy.
Israel may have said something that can be construed as saying that they don't have such plans, and the Russians of course gave it as much credit as I might give, for instance, to KCNA's "reporting": i.e., none at all.
IDK but you can bet the US and Israel will pay for it.
Speaking of retaliation. Russia knows that by defending Iran, they are at the same time putting their own security at risk. So I take their involvement to mean that they are guaranteeing Iran will not be allowed to produce/secure nuclear weapons.
I’m sure Israel knows how to find Moscow.
Hey Russia, does your dog bite?
Very, very funny
Medvedev denied Moscow was backing Iran but said it had the right to supply defensive weapons and said sanctions against Tehran should only be used as a last resort.
Decoded: What is old is new again, Russia is still looking for a warm-water port for its navy, and a puppet regime in Iran would do nicely to promote that search.
This is at best, an extremely ambiguous second hand account, which renders it effectively meaningless.
I hope Bibi didn’t do something so stupid as make ANY promises or concessions to Russia!
The Russians will lie, cheat, and steal, and the only thing you can be sure of is that if they made a “promise” they will break it!
I think something is cooking between Moscow, DC, and Jerusalem. Tehran's reaction should be interesting.
Tell us about it Medvedev! We see it everyday!
Yep, I bet Russia trust Israel just as much as Israel trusts Russia or the US for that matter. Israel will make its own existential judgments.
Must be diplomat-speak...
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