Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a telephone conversation on Monday that
Moscow favored further talks on Iran's nuclear program, the Kremlin
said.
"While discussing the Iranian nuclear program, Putin stated
Russia's fundamental position of support for the continuation of
talks on the issue," the Kremlin press service said in a brief
statement.
The two leaders also discussed cooperation between the two
countries, the statement said.
The United States is seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through
the UN Security Council on the grounds that Tehran is developing a
nuclear-weapons program under the garb of a civilian-use program.
Iran, however, says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes
only.
?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this month that
Russia will oppose any attempts to use the UN Security Council to
punish Iran for its disputed nuclear program.
"We will oppose any attempts to use the Security Council to
punish Iran or use Iran's nuclear program to promote the idea of
ousting the regime there," Lavrov said in an interview with the
Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.
Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States
unveiled a package in June offering incentives and multilateral
talks to Iran in exchange for a freeze on its uranium enrichment
work.
Tehran has said that it wants talks with Europe, Russia, China
and the United States, but it will not suspend its nuclear work as
a prerequisite.
Iran, which failed to meet a UN Security Council deadline for
suspending its enrichment work by Aug. 31, said on Friday it had
fed gas into a second cascade of centrifuges at a uranium
enrichment facility, doubling its uranium enrichment capability
from the previous cascade of 164 centrifuges.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)
