Russia delivered a nuclear snub to the West yesterday by revealing that it had begun to send enriched uranium to Iran.

Fuel for Iran’s first atomic power station at Bushehr began to arrive on Sunday, the state-run Russian nuclear corporation, Atomstroiexport, said. More deliveries would take place over the next two months.

The surprise announcement flew in the face of repeated appeals by the US and the European Union for Moscow to withhold supplies of uranium because of claims that Tehran is secretly building a nuclear bomb.

There are suspicions that the Kremlin was using the delivery as a warning to the West over Kosovan independence. Russia, which backs Serbia’s desire to hold on to the province, wants to send an unmistakable signal that it can create real foreign policy difficulties unless its concerns are heard.

The Foreign Ministry in Moscow gave warning of “an uncontrollable crisis” if Kosovo broke away. It urged the US and the EU to “weigh all the consequences of the unilateral granting of sovereign status to Kosovo . . . and to abstain from hasty decisions that could set a destructive precedent for the whole system of international relations”.

That Russia was still building the Iranian power plant at Bushehr suggested that there was no urgent need to deliver the fuel rods of lightly enriched uranium235 now. Atomstroiexport said that it expected the $1 billion (£500 million) station to begin generating electricity in six months.

Russia said that there was no evidence of an Iranian weapons programme. The US and Israel have repeatedly accused Iran of using Bushehr as a cover to build a bomb. But a report by US intelligence agencies this month concluded that although Iran had had a nuclear weapons programme it had brought it to a close in 2003. President Ahmadinejad insists that it is for purely civilian purposes, but he has also boasted that Iran can enrich uranium on an industrial scale after installing 3,000 centrifuges at an underground bunker in Natanz.

Moscow said that its deliveries were being supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that it had received written assurances from Tehran that the fuel would not be used for other purposes. It added that all spent uranium would be returned to Russia for reprocessing and storage to prevent any being lost. Moscow said that it had also urged Iran to abandon its enrichment programme, arguing that it was redundant now that Tehran had proof of a secure supply of fuel.

US President George Bush agreed, saying that the deliveries meant “the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich” uranium. He added: “Iran was a threat to peace, Iran is a threat to peace, and Iran will be a threat to peace if we don’t stop their enrichment facilities.”

Iran confirmed delivery of 80 tonnes of fuel but a senior official insisted that it would not freeze its enrichment programme, adding: “Nothing is related to freezing enrichment.”

Tehran has refused to halt its programme despite two rounds of sanctions imposed by the United Nations for its repeated refusal to cooperate with the IAEA. The US is leading a drive for more sanctions in a third resolution, but this seems unlikely to succeed now that Russia, which holds a veto on the Security Council, has chosen to deliver uranium to Iran.

Bushehr had been due for completion in September but payment disputes prompted Russia to delay construction. President Putin visited Iran in October, the first Kremlin leader to do so since Stalin, and pledged that the project would be completed.

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president