[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 133 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H10476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RUSSIAN ARMS SALES TO IRAN

  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues in both 
Chambers to press forward in getting to the truth in airing the facts 
behind the administration's deal with Moscow. I ask my colleagues that 
sit on the relevant committees to investigate the administration and, 
of course, the Vice President's role in co-chairing the 1995 meeting 
with the Russian Prime Minister on the U.S.-Russian Binational 
Commission.
  My colleagues, it is only through newspaper articles recently that we 
have hints of the administration's turning a blind eye concerning 
Moscow's arms sales to Iran. The White House has refused to provide a 
copy of the classified 1995 ``aide-memoire'' signed by Vice President 
Gore and Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin that stated the United 
States would not impose penalties on Moscow as required by U.S. law. 
The aide-memoire reveals an implicit agreement to ignore U.S. laws 
governing the U.S. response to arms sales to terrorist nations, 
including Iran.
  Mr. Speaker, the law I am referring to is the Iran-Iraq Arms 
Nonproliferation Act that was passed in 1992, which requires sanctions 
against countries that sell advanced weaponry to countries the State 
Department classifies as state sponsors of terrorism. It is interesting 
that then-Senator Gore, along with Senator McCain, authored this law, 
also known as the Gore-McCain Act. The law is rooted in concerns about 
Russian sales to Iraq of some of the most sophisticated weapons that 
the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement explicitly allowed.
  In 1995, an agreement signed by Vice President Gore and Russia's 
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin endorsed Russia's completion of 
sophisticated and advanced arms deliveries to Iran. The Vice President 
and the Russian Prime Minister mentioned an arms agreement in general 
terms at a news conference the day the agreement was signed, but the 
details have never been disclosed to Congress or the public.
  The weapons Russia has committed to supply to Iran include one kilo-
classed diesel-powered submarine, 160 T-72 tanks, 600 armored personnel 
carriers, numerous anti-ship mines, cluster bombs, and a variety of 
long-range guided torpedoes and other munitions for the submarine and 
tanks. Russia agreed to complete the sales by the end of 1999, and not 
to sell weapons to Iran other than the ones specified. Russia has 
already provided Iran with fighter aircraft and surface-to-air 
missiles.
  The kilo-class submarine sold to Iran should be of particular concern 
to Congress and the American public because it can be hard to detect 
and could pose a threat to oil tankers or American war ships in the 
Gulf. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, Russia continues to be a significant 
supplier of conventional arms to Iran despite the Gore-Chernomyrdin 
deal, the Central Intelligence Agency reported in August.
  Those working for the Vice President argue that the arms pact aided 
the U.S. because the submarine and tanks were not advanced weapons, as 
defined by the Pentagon; and, thus, the U.S. could not have applied 
sanctions anyway. However, statements by the White House and the Vice 
President's office defending the policy of not sanctioning Russia was 
contradicted by a letter sent to Russia in January by Secretary of 
State Madeleine Albright. The letter to Russian Foreign Minister Igor 
Ivanov states that the United States would have imposed sanctions on 
Russia for its arms sales if there had been no 1995 agreement. 
``Without the aide-memoire, Russia's conventional arms sales to Iran 
would have been subject to sanctions based on various provisions of our 
laws.''
  Furthermore, Senator McCain, one of the principal authors of the act 
said, ``Clearly, the 1995 Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement was intended to 
evade sanctions imposed by the legislation written in 1992 by the Vice 
President and me.'' Furthermore, he went on to say, ``If the 
administration acquiesced in the sale, then they have violated both the 
intent and the letter of the law.''
  Without the explicit act of Congress, the Vice President did not have 
the power or authority to commit the United States to ignore U.S. law. 
The Vice President's deal with Moscow gives the Russians not only the 
green light to violate our Nation's laws but encourages them to do so. 
The administration has already admitted that Russia has failed to meet 
its promise to end deliveries by December 1999 to Iran.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in both Chambers to properly 
investigate, find the truth, and I should say get to the bottom of our 
relationships with Russia.

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