THE TELEGRAPH: Western diplomats met in New York last night to thrash out a further set of bilateral sanctions against Iran after Russian [sic] and China launched a boycott of talks on a new UN resolution.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov used a series of meetings with his Western counterparts, including David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to signal that Moscow had gone cold on international efforts to reign in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.
Mr Lavrov lashed out at America and its allies as he linked the Russian decision to steps taken to punish its invasion of Georgia by cutting Kremlin officials out of G8 talks. "You can't have it both ways, punishing Russia by canceling meetings we share and at the same time expecting Russian cooperation on issues important to you," he said. "It is not right to make important items on our agenda hostage."
Foreign Office officials struggled to play down the implications of Russia's fresh recalcitrance but one official said it had doomed attempts to impose new penalties on Iran, which has a clandestine nuclear programme, until the first half of 2009. "There's a recognition that the next step will be down to individual countries," said one official close to the discussions. "It will take some time, well beyond the US elections, to engage in discussions that will produce any more UN sanctions. Russia Forces West to Go It Alone against Iran Nuclear Programme >>> By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | September 25, 2008
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