Davos: Iran has to answer the important questions about its nuclear programme being asked by the international community, said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
In recent years Russia has maintained good relations with Iran and has been very uneasy about the United States' efforts to impose its will on Iran, and has refused to back several American and other initiatives. Medvedev's statement on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos defined how far Russia has moved on this.
"I spoke a few weeks ago to President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who is a friend and a neighbour of Russia, and made clear to him that Iran has to answer the questions being asked of it," Medvedev said.
Setting record straight
Medvedev recognised Iran's right to have nuclear power, but wanted the government to clear up the accusation of a potential non-peaceful programme.
"Iran has a peaceful nuclear power programme, and it is long-standing member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but these make it important for Iran to answer the questions it faces. Even if no-one in the West has come up with any proof of an illegal programme," he said.
Commenting on the events in Tunisia, Medvedev seemed to welcome the development, but with more of a philosophical observation than political backing.
"Any authority needs to meet the aspirations of the people," he said. "[Authorities] must not sit in chairs but must go out and develop themselves with the people."
"Tunisia offers a substantial lesson to learn and it is important that authority has a dialogue with all sorts of people. The authority may not agree with some the people it talks to, and it certainly does not have to do what they say all the time, but it has to talk to all sorts."
These two observations on events in the Middle East followed a successful speech in which Medvedev spoke of how Russia needed to be part of the global world, acknowledged that it had to deal with corruption, and reached out to the European Union and Nato with a request for a new treaty on European security.
Most of the tone, and some of the strategic points he made, were designed to differentiate Medvedev from former president (and current premier) Vladimir Putin's much more nationalistic policies.