WASHINGTON, May 6: Russia is obstructing progress on the reconstruction of Iraq, refusing to curtail dangerous nuclear cooperation with Iran and not using its leverage to ease crises in the Middle East and North Korea, a senior US diplomat charged Monday.

Despite these concerns, the diplomat said Washington is hopeful that ties with Moscow will improve as both sides work to overcome an “undercurrent of bitterness” in the relationship caused by the Iraq conflict.

To that end, Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to Moscow next week to prepare for a June 1 summit in Saint Petersburg between US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at which the leaders will try to put the Iraq divisions behind them, the diplomat said.

“We’re in a kind of a renewal phase in our relationship with the Russians,” the diplomat said, noting that despite the litany of differences, progress in other areas, notably trade, was being made.

But the diplomat, speaking to reporters at the State Department on condition of anonymity, said the United States remained deeply disappointed by Russia’s positions on some of the most pressing matters of US concern.

Chief among those at the moment are Iraq and Iran, he said.

On Iraq, Russia is obstructing US efforts to lift UN sanctions imposed against Saddam Hussein’s toppled regime for commercial reasons, fearing that Russian firms may lose out on lucrative contracts and that the massive debt owed it by Baghdad may never be repaid, the diplomat said.

Moscow’s insistance that sanctions be lifted only after Iraq is certified as being free of weapons of mass destruction is outdated, unhelpful and hurting the Iraqi people, the diplomat said.

They should not be “engaging in obstructionist tactics that only complicate the process of renewal of the country,” he said.

With Iran, Russia is continuing its nuclear cooperation despite persistant US calls for a halt to such dealings, most recently delivered earlier Monday in Moscow by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton.

Bolton told reporters after talks with Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev that he had presented Moscow with evidence that Iran was using nuclear technology to develop weapons.

Russia, along with Iran, has repeatedly denied the program is for anything other than energy purposes but the diplomat said recent developments including Tehran’s admission that it is building facilities to enrich uranium into weapons-grade material should force a reassessment.

The developments “provide further grounds for the Russians to reassess their relationship with Iran,” the diplomat said, adding that until the cooperation ceased, Russia would continue to forfeit potentially lucrative deals with the United States.

On North Korea, the diplomat said it appeared as though Russian officials were not yet prepared to fully use their leverage to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

“What is still unclear is just how much leverage the Russians are prepared to exert,” he said. “Are they prepared to make this a make-or-break issue in their bilateral relationship with North Korea?”

In the Middle East, Moscow is also falling short in US eyes by not pushing Syria and the Palestinians hard enough to crack down on anti-Israel groups and terrorism, the diplomat said.

“The Russians continue to have potential leverage that they could exert there too, that perhaps they haven’t fully exerted in the past, particularly on Syria to definitely shut down (anti-Israel groups) and do their part to end the suicide bombings through their direct dealings with the Palestinians,” he said. —AFP