Dr. Kulai is another informed observer who believes Russian work on Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been suspended indefinitely. Amir Taheri said the same thing about ten days ago.

Dr. Kulai has said publicly that she does not believe the Iranian government served Iran's interests well in the negotiations over the Caspian Sea legal regime. In this interview she was less critical of her own government and discussed the realities as she sees them in Iran's political relations with Russia and the rest of the world in the context of the nuclear enrichment issue.

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Dr. Alaheh Kulai, professor at Tehran University's College of Political Science, is one of a small number of experts on Russia and the former Soviet republics. She has written several books on the Soviet Union and the Caucasus. Her latest book is siyasat va hokumat dar federasion-e rusieh [Policy and Government in the
Russian Federation].

In a situation where on the one hand Russia is considered a friend and on the other an enemy of Iran on the nuclear case, we did an interview with Alaheh Kulai, which follows.

Q: You have previously announced that the Russians are not going to complete the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. In view of the diplomatic issues and the fact that according to official statments more than 96 percent of this plant's fixtures have been installed by the Russians, why do you believe the Russians will not complete the Bushehr plant?

A: A point that exists in the type of cooperation between Iran and the Russians is the very direct relationship between Russian considerations and interests in ordering this type of relationship.

In reality, it is unrealistic to think Russia will be face-to-face with the world and especially with America for the entire Bushehr project. My position on Bushehr goes back to this point.

Assuming the existing situation remains stable, the Russians will not complete the Bushehr project. If the nature of our cooperation and interaction with the international community changes, we will also be able to hope for a change in Russia's behavior.

The Russians began cooperating with Iran on completing the Bushehr project at a time when the Western nations were not willing to cooperate with Iran. In 1995, when this cooperation began, the economic benefits of this cooperation were exceptionally important because the Russians were having acute economic problems.

Today however, Russia has become a 21st Century energy superpower and the prices of oil and gas have also increased. Therefore the economic benefits of continued cooperation with Iran in Bushehr do not have that much priority. In the present circumstances what matters is the political benefits and the gains Russia can make in dealing with the West and especially with America. We must therefore take into account this difference in time and priorities.

On the other hand we must take into consideration the prevailing atmosphere in Russian foreign policy in the 12 years since this treaty was signed. At the time this treaty was signed, in Russia there was an extremist leaning towards Eurasia and a view that Russia's geography was expanding. Today however, this leaning towards Eurasia has more or less become Eurasian realism.

In other words, in the Putin era the Russians are not simply pursuing the interests that arose in the second Yeltsin era due to domestic pressures and the frustrations of Russian foreign policy.

If we take note of this and make as a basis for our studies this change in Russian behavior towards Iran and the world's other nations, we will then realize that the atmosphere of nuclear cooperation with Iran which at one time was based mostly on economic considerations, has now changed, especially since the issuance of UN Security Council 1737, for which the Russians also voted. It is very important to Moscow to adhere in the international community to a resolution that they signed themselves.

Although this resolution made an exception of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in any case it includes steps and measures of which the Russians are acutely mindful.

Sometimes in our country the assumption is made that the Russians are cooperating with us to defend our interest. This assumption is completely wrong. Russia is not making any claim of defending our interest. We are the ones who must act with clever calculation so as to prevent others from benefiting from our interest without us benefiting ourselves.

In general, until Iran's relations with the international community are improved and existing suspicions and assumptions are overcome, the idea that the Russians will complete this project in confrontation with the world is naive.

Q: In other words you do not regard Russia as a friend of Iran?

A: I do not believe that any nation is our permanent friend, nor do I believe that any nation is our permanent enemy. The rule in international relations is that whatever is permanent for our country is whatever is really in their interest.

Therefore no nation, not Russia, not America, not Europe, not China nor any other nation can be our permanent friend, nor can they be our permanent enemy. Our permanent friend is our interests, which we must properly identify.

Likewise, we have no permanent enemies and in our relations with other nations our interests can juxtapose and interpenetrate.

Q: You mentioned political benefits for Russia. On this basis, while some political experts believe Russia has a kind of rivalry with the America. What is your assessment of the political interest in Russia's relationship with the West?

A: Russia is no longer America's rival. Today Russia basically
does not have the ability to play a role as a world power. With its
oil and gas energy leverage Russia can be a very effective
international player and it can do a good job of defending its own
interest, but we cannot view Russia as a player at America's level,
because neither its economic power and infrastructure nor its
political and military abilities are at this level.

However Russia is still the world's largest nation in terms of area and it still has some important regional and in some cases even international tools.

Russia is neighbor to Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Caspian Sea and it naturally has many kinds of leverage for influence in the region. International players such as America cannot ignore this.

My idea is that Russia's cooperation with Iran can serve the interest of both nations but one must not be optimistic or naive in evaluating this. These interests can be secured through expanded relations but it would be a mistake for us to think Russia will stand beside Iran to defend it against America.

Of course we can envision a series of encounters with America, but this will arise out of Russia's interests and not for Iran's interests.

Q: At the Munich Security Conference it appears that Putin's remarks represented a change in stance towards America, but this changed immediately with regard to Iran's nuclear case. Is this due to differing views in Russia's foreign policy?

A: I don't think so. When the Soviet Union first collapsed Russian foreign policy was exceptionally idealistic. At the beginning a kind of political romanticism prevailed in Russian foreign policy. This was due to the fact that Russia was able to be in solidarity with America and was able quickly to be absorbed into the international economy. In reality at the beginning the Russians had an unrealistic idea about their relations with the West and especially with America. The same was true of the Americans.

Q: Was this the view that existed in the time of Chernomyrdin?

A: It existed even before Chernomyrdin. It came to exist at the very beginning in the time of Kuzirov. However Russian politicans, in confronting domestic realities such as the pressure from the Russian nationalists, and also externally in the face of the failure to obtain appropriate responses to going along with the West on matters such as the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and on the other hand the West expanding NATO instead of dissolving it, moved gradually towards greater realism.

At the beginning this movement took the form of a new leaning towards Euroasia where Russia emphasized its own geopolitics and called for attention to its own needs and requirements.

This wave was a reaction to that extreme optimism towards the West in the first years after the collapse. By the end of the 1990s this wave became a kind of realistic Eurasian trend, which Putin was pursuing.

In reality Putin knows that Russia needs the West. He knows that Russia must pay more attention to constructive interaction with the West. Putin's Russia is not Yeltzin's Russia. In the Putin era this behavior forms based on Russia's special interest on the one hand and in reality ways to expand friendly and constructive relations with the West are also taken into consideration. In other words it is both a carrot and a stick.

Putin's remarks at the Munich Conference were made because before that George Bush had spoken of the threat of democracy in Russia. Accordingly in the relations between Russia and America the Russians acted cleverly and are trying to make good use of the opportunities and resources Iran can give them.

Q: Is there a strategic partner in contemporary Russian foreign policy?

A: One can see such a relationship at the level of the relationships some of the former Soviet republics have with Russia. In other words the relations with some of these republics can illuminate a strategic relationship.

However even with regard to China and Russia despite the signing of the Shanghai Pact, again due to areas of competition one cannot rely on the element of a strategic partnership. I think if a nation wants to consider itself one of Russia's strategic allies, in reality this gives Russia a good opportunity to take advantage.

Q: However doesn't it appear that America regards itself a strategic ally of Russia?

A: I don't think so. Several years ago there was talk in our country that Russia and Iran could be strategic allies. I think our foreign policy is now looking to the East. In a policy looking east Russia does not have that much of a place.

I believe our nation's officials have finally hit upon the reality that in the existing circumstances in view of the Islamic republic's essence and identity no nation can be a strategic ally of ours.

At least in the world in which we are living, even in the time when Mr. Khatami was promoting the idea of the unity of civilizations, for the Islamic republic, due to its very special circumstances, finding a strategic ally was an obvious problem.

In my view today our officials have also realized that in relation to Iran the Russians are pursuing their own very special interests. However in my view the evaluation of our nation's officials arises from the fact that they no longer have any option other than to have such a relationship with Russia.

Q: However doesn't Russia play a critical role in many areas, including military industries and even in our diplomacy?

A: Some of this goes back to the opportunities and resources that exist for us in the world for organizing relationships such as this for ourselves. In the time of the shah, in view of the fact that he had created a regime in the area affiliated with the West, we had extensive military relations with the government of the Soviet Union.

Accordingly it is beneficial for us to develop relations with Russia. However it is unrealistic to think developing relations with Russia will create security for us against pressure from the West or America.

Q: In your view, in evaluating relations between Russia and Iran over the last 100 years, were these relations mostly damaging or mostly beneficial to Iran?

A: In my view this issue should be seen from the Russian point of view. Whenever leaders in Iran acted correctly, relations with Russia benefited us. We must ask how to order our relations with Russia. Russia is a large neighbor at our northern borders by the Caspian Sea. We can have various ties with the Russian society, policy, culture and economy that are beneficial to us. One must not look at the issues as black and white or as all or nothing, but we must not lean on Russia or think that Russia will defend our interest.

Russia is a country like no other country in the world. It is essential and constructive for us to develop relations with Russia, and the usefulness of these relations is undeniable. However in my view it would be unrealistic for us to count on Russia in conditions of intensifying conflict with the West.

Crosposted to Satellite News