Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's customs and border officials have stopped a cargo of Russian equipment earmarked for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, Russian officials said Monday.
The vehicles carrying heat insulators needed to complete construction of the Islamic republic's first atomic power plant have been lined up on the Azeri-Iranian border for the past three weeks.
The cargo was detained at the Astara border checkpoint on March 29 and has not been released yet, the officials said.
"Azeri border guards, citing an order from their bosses, have detained our road convoy for the Bushehr plant in the customs control area," said Irina Yesipova, a spokeswoman for Atomstroiexport, which is building the plant.
"We are trying to influence the situation and responding to numerous inquiries from the Azeri customs and border guards despite the fact that the cargo sent to the Bushehr atomic power plant had earlier gone through all export control procedures."
She said the negotiations had made no progress so far and that Iran was also involved in the talks.
The State Customs Committee chairman Aydin Aliyev said Russia is required to obtain authorization for the transit of such consignments via Azerbaijan, according to a relevant Cabinet of Ministers decree.
"The release of the cargo without a special permission is out of the question. The Russian side did not submit a respective document, and the cargo was therefore detained," Aliyev said.
The cargo contains slightly over 10 tons of materials worth $171,000, customs officials said.
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim told Radio Liberty that Baku had appealed to Russia for comprehensive information about the consignment.
"The UN Security Council has passed relevant resolutions on Iran, and it is very important to know whether or not those resolutions affect the cargo being transported," Ibrahim said.
Russia is supplying the equipment under a contract with Iran on civil use of atomic energy.