To return to the main
Missile Exports to Iran entry, see the Missile Exports to
Iran
file.
In 1997, Iranian students from the Sanam Industries Group, one of the leading
organizations in Iran's ballistic missile program, reportedly received
training in missile design at Baltic State Technical University in St.
Petersburg and at
Bauman
Moscow State Technical University.[1,2] In April 1998, reports stated
that Iranians may be receiving training in missile propulsion and guidance
technology at the Moscow Aviation Institute.[3] In July 1998, the Russian
Government Commission on Export Control placed Baltic State Technical University
under "special investigation" for suspected violations of Russian laws
governing the export of dual-use commodities connected with weapons of
mass destruction and missile systems.[4] Training for the Iranian students
at Baltic State was halted that same month (July 1998). Yuriy Savelev,
Rector of the Baltic State Technical University, has denied that his institution
assisted the Iranian missile program, saying that the 25 Iranian students
who studied at his university under a joint program with the Iranian Sanam
College took only classes which fell within “the Russian general educational
engineering program,” and that the program for the Iranians at the university
was cancelled only because Sanam’s activities in Russia had been shut down
for reasons of national security, not as a result of any specific violation
of Russian regulations.[5] The current status of the training programs
at Bauman State Moscow Technical University and the Moscow Aviation Institute
is unknown, although the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) halted
"unsanctioned activity by a group of specialists from the Moscow Aviation
Institute working on missile technology" in July 1998.[6]
On 13 July 1998, Nikolay Kovalev, Director of the Russian Federal Security
Service (FSB) stated that his agency had discovered that the Komintern
Plant in Novosibirsk and the Tikhomirov Institute near Moscow had sent
missile specialists to work in Iran via Tajikistan, using false travel
documents to circumvent travel regulations.[1] The Komintern Plant and
Tikhomirov Institute were subsequently placed under special investigation
of violation of Russian export control laws.[2]
Glavkosmos, an organization subordinate to the Russian Space Agency
specializing in the management of commercial space projects, was placed
under Russian investigation and US trade sanctions in July 1998 for suspected
violations of export control laws and transfer of technology related to
ballistic missiles to Iran.[2,3] The specific assistance that Glavkosmos
has allegedly provided to the Iranian missile program, however, is not
known.
In March 1998, an article in Russia's Novaya gazeta, which included
an interview with a Russian specialist whom Iranian agents had attempted
to recruit, raised concerns over the deliberate acquiescence, or even active
involvement, of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in recruitment
of Russian experts for work on Iranian missiles.[4] In April 1998, an article
in the Washington Post, citing “Russian and diplomatic sources,”
reported that the FSB had quietly recruited Russian missile experts for
work in the Iranian missile program. According to this report, once
the specialists were recruited, they negotiated their own contracts with
Iran, in order to allow the Russian security agency and the Russian government
to deny involvement in the deals. The article also cited a Russian
official as saying that the government now intends to stop the practice
and restrict travel to Iran by Russian experts.[5] The scope and recipients
of these alleged FSB efforts, and their relationship, if any, to FSB enforcement
of Russian export controls, cannot be determined.
In January 2002 Vadim Vorobev,
a composites specialist at the Moscow Aviation Institute, told the
Washington Post
that Russian engineers have visited Iran throughout the 1990s in order to
provide technological information relating to missile development. According to Vorobev,
some scientists were invited to give lectures at Iranian universities, while
others were offered contracts for specific projects. Vorobev
himself traveled to Iran, with no Russian government agencies opposing his
trips, on numerous occasions between 1996 and 2000 to give lectures and to
perform work on missile development projects managed by the Iranian Energy
Ministry. Only in 2000 was
Vorobev told to cease his travels
to Iran. Vorobev
was skeptical of Iranian missile technology capabilities, felt their missile
program was disorganized, and believed Iran would not be able to develop an ICBM
for at least 10 years. He also claimed that he and other Russian scientists
refrained from providing the Iranians with any sensitive scientific
information.[6,7]
Page last updated 6 November 2002
For more recent developments,
see the Missile Exports to Iran Developments file.
Comments or questions? Contact Michael Jasinski at MIIS CNS: Michael.Jasinski@miis.edu
This material is produced independently for NTI
by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the
Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has
not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers,
employees, agents. Copyright © 2002 by MIIS.
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