Russia urges Iran to cooperate with UN on nuke program

Ahmadinejad should be 'more constructive' when dealing with global powers on nuclear issues, Russian foreign minister says after the leaders of the two countries meet.

Russia urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to be "more constructive" when dealing with global powers on nuclear issues, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the leaders of the two countries met.

Russia believes Iran could do more to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 5+1 grouping of the five permanent United Nations Security Council members and Germany, Lavrov told reporters in the Kazakh capital Astana.

"We raised the question with Ahmadinejad about the necessity of more constructive cooperation with 5+1 and, more importantly, about increasing the transparency of contacts between Iran and the IAEA," Lavrov said.

He was speaking after Ahmadinejad, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held discussions following a meeting of a regional security bloc.

"The reaction of the Iranian president was positive," Lavrov said. "He acknowledged that 5+1 is an important instrument, an important mechanism with which Iran is ready to cooperate, including on the Iranian nuclear program."

Russia and China joined Western powers last week in telling Iran its "consistent failure" to comply with UN resolutions "deepened concerns" about possible military dimensions to its nuclear program.

Their joint statement with the United States, Germany, France and Britain was issued a day after Iran said it would triple production of high-grade uranium and shift it to an underground bunker protected from possible U.S. or Israeli air strikes.

Russia and China have often voiced unity in opposition to perceived U.S. global dominance and in the past have been less inclined to try to isolate Iran over its uranium enrichment, which Tehran says is solely to generate electricity.

Western nations say they suspect the Islamic Republic wants to enrich uranium to a higher level to be able to make nuclear weapons if it chooses.

Lavrov added that Iran also wanted to discuss "other issues, including the softening of the sanctions regime".

Source: Reuters