Russia Is Willing To Back Sanctions Against Iran

Russia is willing to back sanctions against Iran so long as they are targeted and do not affect the civilian poupulation, President Dimitri Medvedev said at a news conference with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
Speaking in Paris, Medvedev said he hoped that negotiations with Iran would come to an agreement without sanctions. But if we don’t get there, Russia is ready, with its partners, I have already said it, to have sanctions introduced, he said. These sanctions must be carefully weighed and must be sanctions that are intelligent ones. They must not be directed against the civilian population. He said that if sanctions were to be applied, they could not be punitive to the point of preventing further dialogue with the Iranian regime, which says its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes. Significantly, Medvedev did not mention Iran in his opening comments, while the question was the first point that Sarkozy made in his. Asked about negotiations under way with the United States to cut nuclear weapons stockpiles, Medvedev said talks were advancing well and that negotiators were down to the fine print, with most substantive issues agreed.