(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-26 15:25

LISBON, Portugal -- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned strongly Thursday against imposing new international sanctions on Iran, in words that appeared to be a response to newly announced US measures to punish Tehran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while answering a journalist's question during a press conference after a meeting with his Portuguese counterpart Anibal Cavaco Silva, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007, at Lisbon's Belem presidential palace. Putin is on a two day official visit to Portugal where on Friday, he will take part in the EU-Russia summit. [Agencies]

Putin spoke hours after Washington cut off Iranian military and banking institutions from the American financial system. The US said the sanctions were in response to Iran's defiance of UN demands to curb its nuclear program and its alleged support for terrorism.

Arriving for a summit with European Union leaders, the Russian leader did not make any direct reference to the US announcement., but he said the standoff with Iran will have to be resolved through patient talks.

"Why worsen the situation and bring it to a dead end by threatening sanctions or military action?" Putin asked. "Running around like a madman with a razor blade, waving it around, is not the best way to resolve the situation."

Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear power plant, has opposed a new push for a third round of UN sanctions over the Iranian defiance of a Security Council demand that it suspend enriching uranium.

The US and its allies suspect Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge that the Tehran regime denies. Iran says it is only working to produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity and insists it will not give up uranium enrichment.

Speaking at a news conference after talks with Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, Putin pointed to the long negotiations with North Korea that led to an agreement earlier this year for that nation to begin dismantling its nuclear facilities.

"Not long ago it didn't seem possible to resolve the situation with North Korea's nuclear program, but we have practically solved it relying on peaceful means," he said.

Putin has rebuffed Western calls for more sanctions against Iran by saying he has seen no evidence the Iranians are working on atomic weapons. But he said Thursday that when he visited Tehran last week, he reaffirmed Russia's strong opposition to the spread of such weapons.