'Russia say no Iran sanctions without proof'

MOSCOW, Apr 21: Russia would approve sanctions on Iran only if it saw hard evidence that Tehran's nuclear programme was not peaceful, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying today.

''We will only be able to talk about sanctions after we have concrete facts confirming that Iran is not exclusively involved in peaceful nuclear activities,'' Tass quoted spokesman Mikhail Kamynin as saying.

The United States and some other major powers believe Iran may be building a nuclear bomb. But they say evidence that Iran is not complying with the United Nations nuclear watchdog is enough on its own to justify sanctions.

Up to now, Russia -- a veto-holder on the UN Security Council -- has said it is not convinced that sanctions on Iran to persuade it to abandon its uranium enrichment programme would work.

But Moscow has not before been explicit about the level of evidence it would need to consider sanctions.

REUTERS