Too soon to talk of Iran sanctions-Russia's Putin

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 17 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin today said talk of sanctions on Iran was premature, setting Russia at odds with Western powers ahead of a U.N. Security Council discussion this week.

''To talk about sanctions against Iran is premature ... It has not reached that point,'' Putin told a news briefing at the Group of Eight summit he chaired in St Petersburg.

World powers have agreed to discuss at the Security Council this week Iran's failure to respond to a package of incentives to stop uranium enrichment.

While permanent Council members Britain, France and the United States support economic sanctions if Iran fails to cooperate, such measures are not backed by veto-wielding Russia and China.

Putin did say that he shared the impatience of the European Union and the United States that Tehran has not responded to the incentives package more than a month after it was submitted.

''We want the Iranian leadership to respond as soon as possible to the six-power proposal and for negotiations to start as soon as possible on the basis of that proposal,'' he said.

Putin said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told him earlier this summer that talks on the proposal -- submitted by Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China -- would start in July.

''Now we hear there is a new timetable and it is August,'' said Putin.

Russia and China could use their power of veto in the Security Council to block attempts this week to make suspension of Iran's enrichment programme mandatory.

The West believes the uranium Iran is working to enrich could be used to make weapons, but Tehran insists it is purely to generate electricity.

Reuters PKS DB2114