AFP
Sunday, January 28, 2007 

Visiting Russian security chief Igor Ivanov said Sunday that Moscow is committed to launching Iran's first nuclear power plant on schedule in September, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Russia is determined and serious in fulfilling its obligation to finish Bushehr plant on the scheduled date," Ivanov was quoted as saying after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

In September 2006, Russia and Iran signed an agreement setting September this year as the deadline for the launch of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power station which lies on the Gulf coast in southwestern Iran.

The plant will actually produce electricity from November 2007, and the nuclear fuel for the plant is to be delivered no later than March.

Ivanov, the Russian Security Council secretary, is also due to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and national security chief and top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

He is expected to hold a press conference with his Iranian counterpart later.

Russia supports Iran's right to peaceful nuclear technology but voted for a UN Security Council resolution in December that imposes sanctions on Tehran over its repeated refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.