Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday it was too early to talk about sanctions against Iran for its nuclear ambitions, an expert on Russia who was at a meeting with Putin said.
Putin spoke to about 50 experts at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow for nearly four hours, a Kremlin spokesman said.
The spokesman could not immediately confirm Putin's comments.
"About Iran, he said it was too early to talk about sanctions and he hopes sanctions can be avoided," Alexander Rahr, an expert on Russia at the German Council on Foreign Relations who was at the meeting, told Reuters.
Putin said Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium and that Iran's call to destroy Israel had hurt Tehran's negotiating position.
"He said they made the mistake of saying that they wanted to destroy Israel and under these circumstances Russia could not support the full demands of Iran," Rahr said, quoting Putin.
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