Russia has brushed off increasingly loud US demands to halt its nuclear cooperation with Iran, remaining the foremost world power helping the Islamic regime develop what many fear is a nuclear weapons programme.

US and European demands that Iran come entirely clean on its nuclear programme have fallen on deaf ears, prompting the West to turn its criticism on Russia's construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr.

Yet they have made little headway there too.

Russia insists it will complete the Bushehr plant, supporting Iran's claim that it is part of a plan to develop nuclear energy for peaceful means.

Yet many in the West wonder why oil-rich Iran, which produces around 3,6-million barrels of crude per day - needs to turn to nuclear energy.

Faced with increased criticism, Moscow has stepped up its calls that Tehran sign an additional Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) protocol allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect all suspect sites, not just those declared by Tehran.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov again urged Iran to sign the protocol on Monday following the IAEA's meeting in Vienna in which IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei released a report saying Iran had failed to report certain nuclear activities.

Yet the same day, another Russian official called on IAEA governors in Vienna to take a "measured and non-politicised" decision after analysing the report.

"We believe the reaction of the council of governors to this report must be measured and non-politicised, and take all aspects into account," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said.

And foreign ministry spokesperson Alexander Yakovenko said Monday that a wave of anti-regime protests sweeping Iran were the country's "internal affair" - in a thinly veiled swipe at US support of the demonstrations.

Russia has clearly been seeking to avoid stirring up tensions with the US, with relations still on the mend following a bitter conflict over the US-led war in Iraq.

Yet it is also seeking to defend an important market – the Bushehr contract alone is worth $800-million - and show its public that it does not bend to Washington's whim.

These conflicting goals have led Russia to engage in a somewhat confused policy over the crisis, which heated up yesterday with Iran's rejection of the charges made in the IAEA report.

Different Russian officials make varying, and sometimes conflicting, statements almost daily.

In late May, Western officials - including British Prime Minister Tony Blair - said Russian President Vladimir Putin had pledged at a G8 summit in France that Russia would not sell Iran nuclear fuel until it signed the additional protocol.

But Yakovenko and Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev later said Russia would go ahead with the nuclear fuel shipments even without the protocol.

The shipments are not due to begin until Tehran and Moscow sign a deal on the return of spent fuel.

The document has been ready since August, but logisitical problems, including Russia's call for experts to carry out an environmental study, have slowed its signing, prompting some analysts to call the delay a hidden concession to Washington.

Russia earlier this month delayed Bushehr's launch until 2005, another move seen as an indirect concession.

But Putin himself has insisted Russia will not sever ties with Iran, reiterating both at the G8 meet in France and at a series of summits held with European and US leaders in Saint Petersburg last month that the cooperation would continue.

Yet adding further to the confusion, he told US President George W Bush in Saint Petersburg that "the position of Russia and the US on the issue are much closer than they seem". - Sapa-AFP.