Putin and Ahmadinejad to meet in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin will talk with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week in Beijing, agencies reported.

"Meeting Ahmadinejad will let Putin personally feel the tension around the Iranian issue and how it is perceived in Tehran," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov told reporters, according to AFP.

They will meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit to be held from June 6 to 7.

The meeting comes ahead of the latest round of talks on June 18 to 19 to be hosted by Russia between world powers and Iranian negotiators to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

At the Moscow meeting, Russia will "promote the thought that Iran's right to develop peaceful energy under the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency should be approved," Bloomberg quoted Ushakov as saying.

Last month in Baghdad the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany confronted Tehran over its intention to enrich uranium amid fears that Iran was building a nuclear bomb.

Iran insists its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes but Western powers believe it is trying to develop a bomb.

Like Western capitals, Russia "was not too happy" with the outcome of the Baghdad talks, but "understood the main thing, which is the readiness of both sides to continue talks," Ushakov said, according to AFP.

"Only in dialogue is it possible to get a sense of any sort of compromise, which is crucial to unblock this situation... and leave out the most scary scenarios," AFP quoted the official as saying.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency said new satellite imagery of the Parchin base near Tehran indicated "extensive activities" where there had been "virtually" none for years, reported AFP.

Iran is an observer state of the SCO, which groups China, Russia and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.