-Caveat Lector-
October 17, 2000
Letter shows Gore made deal
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Visit our Election 2000 page for daily election news and analysis
Vice President Al Gore, at the urging of Russian Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin, agreed to keep secret from Congress details
of Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran beginning in late 1995.
In a classified “Dear Al” letter obtained by The Washington
Times, Mr. Chernomyrdin told Mr. Gore about Moscow’s
confidential nuclear deal with Iran and stated that it was “not
to be conveyed to third parties, including the U.S. Congress.”
But sources on Capitol Hill said Mr. Gore withheld the
information from key senators who normally would be told of such
high-level security matters. The Gore-Chernomyrdin deal,
disclosed in a letter labeled “secret,” appears to violate a
provision of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Act, which requires
the Clinton administration to keep congressional oversight
committees fully informed of all issues related to nuclear
weapons proliferation. The Chernomyrdin letter on nuclear
cooperation with Iran follows a report in the New York Times last
week showing that Mr. Gore reached a secret deal with Russia
several months earlier that appears to circumvent U.S. laws
requiring the imposition of sanctions on Russia for its
conventional arms sales to Iran. That arrangement also was kept
secret from Congress, raising concerns among some lawmakers that
the administration may be hiding other secret deals. Gore
spokesman Jim Kennedy said: “It’s obvious that the motivation for
this leak is political.” The letter “simply appears to be part of
the overall United States effort to encourage the Russians to
break off or limit their nuclear relationship with Iran,” Mr.
Kennedy said in a statement last night. The Dec. 9, 1995, letter
on Iranian nuclear cooperation states that the two leaders’
discussions as part of a special commission had resulted in
“clarity and mutual understanding” on the matter.
The letter said there were “no new trends” in Moscow’s sale of
nuclear equipment to Iran since a 1992 agreement. It also states
that Russia and the United States would seek to prevent the
undermining of the nuclear arms non-proliferation program.”
Mr. Chernomyrdin said Moscow’s program of building a nuclear
reactor in Iran would be limited to training technicians in
Russia, and the delivery of “nuclear fuel for the power plant for
the years 2001 through 2011.” “The information that we are
passing on to you is not to be conveyed to third parties,
including the U.S. Congress,” Mr. Chernomyrdin said. “Open
information concerning our cooperation with Iran is obviously a
different matter, and we do no[t] object to the constructive use
of such information. I am counting on your understanding.”
A classified analysis acompanying the letter stated that Russian
assistance “if not terminated, can only lead to Iran’s
acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability.” “Such a development
would be destabilizing not only for the already volatile Middle
East, but would pose a threat to Russian and Western security
interests,” the analysis stated. Russian promises to limit
cooperation with Iran’s nuclear program have been undermined by
numerous U.S. intelligence reports showing Moscow is providing
nuclear-weapons-related equipment to Tehran outside the scope of
its declared limits, according to U.S. officials.
A senior State Department official, Robert Einhorn, told a Senate
subcommittee hearing earlier this month that Russian nuclear
assistance is a “persistent problem” and that Russian companies
linked to the government are providing Iran with “laser isotope
separation technology” used to enrich uranium for weapons. Asked
about the letter, congressional aides close to the issue said
they knew nothing about the details that the Russian leader gave
Mr. Gore. “All this nuclear cooperation is sanctionable,” said a
senior congressional aide.
The secret Gore-Chernomyrdin dealings have become an issue in the
presidential election campaign. Texas Gov. George W. Bush stated
during a campaign stop in Michigan last week that the reported
deal on Russian arms transfers to Iran was “a troubling piece of
information.” He demanded an explanation from the vice president.
An earlier Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement, also obtained by The
Washington Times, reveals that the United States would not impose
sanctions on Russia required under U.S. law in exchange for
Moscow’s promise to end arms sales to Iran. That agreement,
called an “aide memoire” and signed by Mr. Gore and Mr.
Chernomyrdin on June 30, 1995, required Russia to halt all arms
sales to Iran by Dec. 31, 1999. In exchange, the United States
promised “to take appropriate steps to avoid any penalties to
Russia that might otherwise arise under domestic law . . .,” says
the agreement, labeled “secret.”
The aide memoire also states that the United States would “pursue
steps that would lead to the removal of Russia from the
proscribed list of International Traffic in Arms Regulations of
the United States” which limits U.S. arms and defense-related
technology sales. A third classified letter, from Secretary of
State Madeleine K. Albright, indicates that Russia is not living
up to its promise to halt conventional arms deliveries to the
Iranians. Mrs. Albright stated in a Jan. 13 letter to Russian
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, also labeled “secret,” that
“Russia’s unilateral decision to continue delivering arms to Iran
beyond the Dec. 31 deadline will unnecessarily complicate our
relationship.” “I urge that Russia refrain from any further
deliveries of those arms covered by the aide memoire; provide
specific information on what has been delivered, what remains to
be shipped and anticipated timing; and refrain from concluding
any additional arms contracts with Iran,” Mrs. Albright stated.
She added that the United States had lived up to its commitment
in the 1995 Gore-Chernomyrdin aide memoire, including removing
Russia from the list of nations limited by munitions-export
controls. In the “Dear Igor” letter, Mrs. Albright stated that
“without the aide memoire, Russia’s conventional arms sales to
Iran would have been subject to sanctions based on various
provisions of our laws.”
The 1992 Iran-Iraq Nonproliferation Act requires the imposition
of sanctions for “destabilizing” arms sales to either country. A
1996 amendment to the 1962 Foreign Assistance Act also requires
sanctions on nations that provide lethal military assistance to a
nation designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is on the
State Department’s terrorism sponsor list. Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, and Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, North Carolina
Republican, wrote to President Clinton on Friday asking about the
1995 aide memoire. “Please assure us . . . the vice president did
not, in effect, sign a pledge with Victor Chernomyrdin in 1995
that committed your administration to break U.S. law by dodging
sanctions requirements,” they stated.
Senate aides said the administration failed to notify the Senate
about the specific arrangements to cover up for Russian arms
sales. National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger said on Sunday,
contrary to Mrs. Albright’s classified letter, that U.S.
sanctions did not apply to Russia.
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