Russia is against new U.N. Security Council measures targeting Iran, the foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday after the White House warned of a new round of sanctions. The comments came after talks between majors powers over a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran ended with no firm commitment on Friday.At a meeting with senior diplomats from the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany on Friday, Russia said "it was against the development at this stage of additional measures in the U.N. Security Council," the statement said. The foreign ministry statement, which comes as relations between Moscow and Washington are severely strained over Georgia, said that for now Moscow prefers dialogue with Tehran, "On the Russian side, we underlined the necessity of continuing efforts to include Tehran in a constructive dialogue aimed at launching a process of talks," the ministry said. "In this context we spoke against the development of extra measures by the U.N. Security Council at this stage."
The United States, Britain, France and Germany are pushing for harsher measures over Tehran's defiance of U.N. demands for full disclosure and a halt to uranium enrichment, which can have both civilian and military purposes. Russia and China however have been resisting such moves.
In Washington on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Rice called on the West to resist what she labeled as Russian "bullying" and said Moscow had taken a "dark turn" towards authoritarianism.