MOSCOW. July 6 (Interfax-AVN) - President Vladimir Putin hopes that Iran will respond to the proposals of Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and China as soon as possible.
"My latest meeting with the Iranian president showed that Iran had positively taken the proposals. Certainly, we would favor a quicker reaction and a constructive and detailed discussion," he told an Internet press conference on Thursday.
"I agree that it would counterproductive to wait endlessly," he said.
"Yet it would be even more counterproductive to chase the issue into a dead end and wonder what to do next," he said.
Putin said that possible sanctions on Iran would be premature. "I would not anticipate events and speak of sanctions. I would concentrate on the proposals Iran has received from the six nations. Russia took part in their drafting, and they are rather constructive," he said.
"The Iranian administration said that they will be ready for dialog in August. To our mind, they could have done that earlier. However, we must take into account the opinion of the other party - Iran. We should not anticipate events or escalate tensions. Let us give the professionals a chance to work," he said.