KIEV, Nov. 9 - It is doubtful that Ukrainian scientists could have been involved in assisting Iran in its pursuit for a nuclear weapon, says Oleksandr Skybynetsky, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc-Batkivschyna faction and a lieutenant-general of the Ukrainian Security Service.

"First, what has appeared in Russian press in relation to Ukraine needs to be seriously analyzed for authenticity. Second, there have never been specialists on the development of nuclear weapons as such in Ukraine. There have been specialists on means of delivery and control systems. But development of nuclear weapons is Russia's business, and there could have been only Russian scientists, that is, former Soviet ones but working in Russia. Not Ukrainian ones," Skybynetsky told Interfax on Tuesday in commenting on media reports alleging that a Ukrainian researcher could have been involved in the Iranian nuclear program.

There has never been nuclear weapon technology in Ukraine, "and this is in large part why Ukraine had to abandon nuclear weapons [after the USSR breakup], because there were no specialists to service, maintain, or control them," he said.