http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/us-iran-russia-nato-idUSTRE80C1BI20120113
Russia says would be threatened by Iran military action
Jan 13, 2012
Russia would regard any military intervention linked to Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its own security, Moscow’s departing ambassador to NATO warned on Friday.
“Iran is our neighbor,” Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Brussels. “And if Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.”
Rogozin was speaking two days after the killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran by a hitman on a motorcycle.
Kremlin Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev, who is close to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said Israel was pushing the United States towards war with Iran, according to the Interfax news agency.
Russia, however, opposes a boycott of Iranian oil.
“We are definitely interested in the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Rogozin said on Friday. “But at the same time, we believe that any country has the right to have what it needs to feel comfortable, including Iran.”
Rogozin, often described as an anti-Western hawk, was appointed deputy prime minister in December, and will oversee Russia’s defense sector when he returns to Moscow.
