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United Nations: A UN meeting aimed at drafting a resolution for sanctions on Iran was postponed after a diplomatic tiff over Belarus between the US and Russia erupted in an earlier meeting.
United States senior diplomat William Brencick angered Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin when he brought up the 54-day hunger strike of jailed former Belarusian opposition presidential candidate, Alexander Kozulin, diplomats said.
Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said, “It wasn't the best timing by the US.”
However, a US official said Kozulin was a vital issue to bring up because of Washington’s concerns for freedom of political expression and democracy in central Europe. “We raised this issue and our goal was to highlight the plight of this individual and what it means for the state of democracy in this country,” the official said.
Kozulin, who has been jailed since March, ended his hunger strike to protest his sentencing on Tuesday.
The aim of the postponed meeting was to discuss exactly what materials and technology would be prohibited from being supplied to Iran for possible use in its nuclear and missile programmes after the Russians and Chinese previously claimed the proposed sanctions were too broad.
Russia has also requested that the mentioning of the nuclear facility being built by the Russians at Bushehr, Iran be removed.
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