May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

BAKU, May 1: Azerbaijan on Thursday released a shipment of Russian equipment for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant after holding it for a month out of concern it might violate UN sanctions, the foreign ministry said.

Azerbaijan had been holding a truck containing insulation equipment for the plant at the Azerbaijani-Iranian border since March 29, insisting that Russia had not provided proper transit documents for the cargo.

Its release came after Russia provided information on the shipment earlier this week.

“We received the information from Russia, studied it and then we decided to let it go,” foreign ministry spokesman Khazar Ibragim said.

He said he was unaware if the cargo had already crossed into Iran.

Russian state-run company Atomstroiexport had earlier insisted the shipment should be allowed to pass as it was not “subject to special control.” The UN Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its failure to heed resolutions requiring the suspension of its sensitive uranium enrichment operations.

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is completing work on Iran’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr.

Moscow has close ties with Iran — its southern border is separated from Iran by just a few hundred kilometres of territory in the Caucasus region, which includes Azerbaijan.—AFP