Russia discussing Iran sanctions with partners, says Pres.

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and the other five countries
negotiating the Iranian nuclear problem are discussing the issuer of
sanctions against Iran, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday in a speech
at the Brookings Institution's center for political studies.
"One more issue we're now working intensively on now is the Iranian
nuclear problem," Medvedev said.
"Much is being said now about the importance of introducing sanctions
against Iran and the reasons for such proposals are absolutely clear
because Iran eventually failed to react to the compromise proposals that
had been made to it," he said.
"The last time when I discussed it with President Obama was in Prague
where we met for signing the strategic offensive armaments reduction
treaty," Medvedev said.
"Still, this doesn't mean at all that the sanctions are a useful
thing," he went on saying. "More than that, they bring results in far from
all the situations and most certainly they shouldn't punish the ordinary
people."
"The sanctions must prop up the nuclear nonproliferation regime and
they can be efficacious only in this case," Medvedev said.
He also stressed Moscow's support for Washington's Middle East peace
settlement efforts, noting the "similarity of approaches" espoused by the
two countries as regards resolution of the Middle East problem.
"It's important to set up practical conditions for the rise of an
independent Palestinian state," he said. "Any talking about a steady and
durable peace in the region will be impossible in its absence."
Medvedev admitted that the creation of the Palestinian state is moving
ahead with great difficulty for the time being.
"At the moment, the American side is making efforts to revert the
process to the track of constructive development, including through the
introduction of the so-called indirect talks," he said. "We support it in
every possible way."
Medvedev indicated he has had meetings with practically all the Middle
East leaders this year.
"I promoted the idea of indirect talks," he said.
"We hosted a conference of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators in
Moscow and I hope all of this will transform into direct talks in the
final run," Medvedev said.