WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Republicans on Wednesday accused Vice President
Al Gore of concealing a 1995 U.S.-Russian agreement on arms sales to Iran
and grilled State Department officials about the probe as Russia's former
premier defended the deal.
The United States reportedly dropped objections to a transfer of
sophisticated weapons to Iran and promised not to impose legal sanctions as
a response. In return, under an agreement worked out between Gore and
then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia agreed to end arms
sales to Iran after 1999.
Two Republican subcommittee chairmen accused the Clinton administration of
deliberately withholding the agreement from Congress and said Russia escaped
penalties for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran because of it. Republicans
call the agreement a "secret pact," but the White House said details were
published at the time. State Department officials testified that Congress
was notified and that no attempt was made to keep the agreement secret from
Congress.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, chairman of the Near Eastern and South Asian
Affairs subcommittee, called State Department officials to testify on the
matter Wednesday in a joint session with the subcommittee on European
affairs.
Sen. Sam Brownback
"The decision to allow Russia to escape the consequences of providing Iran
with conventional weapons is one which effects not only the security of
American personnel in the (Persian) Gulf, but the security of our allies in
the region," Brownback said. "This is not the type of agreement which should
have been kept from the American people."
The subcommittees went into secret session with the State Department
officials following a brief public session.
Chernomyrdin is also angered by GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush's
accusation, made during a presidential debate, that the Russian official
pocketed international aid.
Bush raised Chernomyrdin's name in the second presidential debate, accusing
him of benefiting from the diversion of loans from the International
Monetary Fund.
"We went into Russia, we said here's some IMF money," Bush said in the
October 11 debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "It ended up in Viktor
Chernomyrdin's pocket, and others."
Chernomyrdin says the charge is ludicrous and has threatened to sue Bush in
U.S. courts. The IMF says it has no evidence to support Bush's allegation.
Chernomyrdin, Democrats defend pact
The hearings come as the once-close working relationship between Gore and
Chernomyrdin has become an issue in Gore's presidential bid. Gore and
Chernomyrdin led a U.S.-Russian commission that dealt with issues ranging
from arms control to international investment.
Chernomyrdin said he may have asked Gore not to disclose some details of the
Iranian agreement, but only in initial stages.
"We found a decision that was in the interests of both the United States and
Russia," he said. "What we did with Iran posed no threat to the United
States."
Senate Democrats defended the deal as well. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware,
said the agreement "kept a lid on Russian arms flows to Iran."
Sen. Joseph Biden
"Russia's annual arms deals with Iran during the Clinton administration were
only a 10th of what they were during the Bush administration, and there was
no legal requirement to give Congress formal notice of the Gore-Chernomyrdin
deal," Biden said. "But at least one House committee was briefed."
Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy dismissed the complaints as politically
motivated.
"Their inaccurate complaints about it only now, 14 days before the election,
speaks for itself," he said.
Chernomyrdin, a former gas industry boss, was one of the most powerful men
in Russia during the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He was once
considered a possible successor Yeltsin, who fired him in March 1998.
He said he is willing to appear before Congress to defend the agreement.
"Just tell me who to talk to," he said Wednesday in Moscow.
Al Gore of concealing a 1995 U.S.-Russian agreement on arms sales to Iran
and grilled State Department officials about the probe as Russia's former
premier defended the deal.
The United States reportedly dropped objections to a transfer of
sophisticated weapons to Iran and promised not to impose legal sanctions as
a response. In return, under an agreement worked out between Gore and
then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia agreed to end arms
sales to Iran after 1999.
Two Republican subcommittee chairmen accused the Clinton administration of
deliberately withholding the agreement from Congress and said Russia escaped
penalties for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran because of it. Republicans
call the agreement a "secret pact," but the White House said details were
published at the time. State Department officials testified that Congress
was notified and that no attempt was made to keep the agreement secret from
Congress.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, chairman of the Near Eastern and South Asian
Affairs subcommittee, called State Department officials to testify on the
matter Wednesday in a joint session with the subcommittee on European
affairs.
Sen. Sam Brownback
"The decision to allow Russia to escape the consequences of providing Iran
with conventional weapons is one which effects not only the security of
American personnel in the (Persian) Gulf, but the security of our allies in
the region," Brownback said. "This is not the type of agreement which should
have been kept from the American people."
The subcommittees went into secret session with the State Department
officials following a brief public session.
Chernomyrdin is also angered by GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush's
accusation, made during a presidential debate, that the Russian official
pocketed international aid.
Bush raised Chernomyrdin's name in the second presidential debate, accusing
him of benefiting from the diversion of loans from the International
Monetary Fund.
"We went into Russia, we said here's some IMF money," Bush said in the
October 11 debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "It ended up in Viktor
Chernomyrdin's pocket, and others."
Chernomyrdin says the charge is ludicrous and has threatened to sue Bush in
U.S. courts. The IMF says it has no evidence to support Bush's allegation.
Chernomyrdin, Democrats defend pact
The hearings come as the once-close working relationship between Gore and
Chernomyrdin has become an issue in Gore's presidential bid. Gore and
Chernomyrdin led a U.S.-Russian commission that dealt with issues ranging
from arms control to international investment.
Chernomyrdin said he may have asked Gore not to disclose some details of the
Iranian agreement, but only in initial stages.
"We found a decision that was in the interests of both the United States and
Russia," he said. "What we did with Iran posed no threat to the United
States."
Senate Democrats defended the deal as well. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware,
said the agreement "kept a lid on Russian arms flows to Iran."
Sen. Joseph Biden
"Russia's annual arms deals with Iran during the Clinton administration were
only a 10th of what they were during the Bush administration, and there was
no legal requirement to give Congress formal notice of the Gore-Chernomyrdin
deal," Biden said. "But at least one House committee was briefed."
Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy dismissed the complaints as politically
motivated.
"Their inaccurate complaints about it only now, 14 days before the election,
speaks for itself," he said.
Chernomyrdin, a former gas industry boss, was one of the most powerful men
in Russia during the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He was once
considered a possible successor Yeltsin, who fired him in March 1998.
He said he is willing to appear before Congress to defend the agreement.
"Just tell me who to talk to," he said Wednesday in Moscow.