H. BARARI REIKANDE (Iran), Post-Graduate Student, Saint Petersburg State University Keywords: nuclear power industry, Iran, Russia, Bushehr NPP, image of Russia Nuclear energy is one of the key and priority factors in Russian-Iranian relations. Russia closely cooperates with the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in the nuclear energy sector and is considered the main partner of this country in the implementation of its nuclear program. Russia's main energy project in Iran is the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Despite numerous technical problems, political obstacles and pressure from the West and Israel, the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has already been built by Russian specialists and handed over to Iran for operation. The time has come to examine all aspects of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the nuclear sphere and assess the impact on further energy cooperation between the two countries in the context of normalization of Iran's relations with the West. As part of this study, it is important to describe the current state of joint work between Iran and the Russian Federation in the nuclear energy sector; assess the problems that may arise in their cooperation; and consider the prospects for the development of this cooperation. "COOPERATION SYMBOL" AND "INTERACTION VECTOR" The main stages of construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant are as follows. The works were started in 1974 by the German concern Kraftwerk Union AG (Siemens / KWU). But in 1980, he broke the contract with the Iranian customer because of the German government's decision to join the American embargo on the supply of equipment to Iran. On August 24, 1992, the Governments of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy and on August 25, 1992 signed an agreement on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran. In January 1995, a contract was signed to complete the const ... Read more