Russia is ready to back a U.N. resolution to curb Iran's nuclear programme but sanctions drawn up by European leaders greatly exceed what Moscow agreed with Western powers, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
Negotiations on the draft resolution, authored by Britain, France and Germany with general U.S. support, promise to be tough, possibly lasting weeks, because veto-wielding Russia and China oppose punitive action against Tehran.
Lavrov was speaking in Brussels as envoys of the six world powers prepared to meet at the United Nations later in the day to tackle differences over steps towards sanctions.
He said the six had agreed that measures against Iran should be "reasonable ... be proportional given the actual situation as regards the nuclear programme in Iran and should also be in stages".
"We were prepared and are still prepared to draw up measures of that sort," he told reporters after talks with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, representing the European Union presidency, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"We do not intend to drop back our efforts as regards the problem of Iran and nuclear power," Lavrov said, but he added: "What the EU troika drew up went way beyond what was agreed."
Earlier, Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Kislyak, said Moscow, which is keen to protect major trade stakes in Iran, would not back the resolution without significant changes.
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