Unmentioned but clearly meant was NATO's reliance on Russia to supply its forces in Afghanistan.The EU's mild rebuke and tentative sanctions brought an outright welcome.
Iran and six world powers appeared to reach tentative agreement on sanctions relief for Tehran, a key element of a potential nuclear deal as talks continued on Saturday.
Russia's tentative support for future economic sanctions against Iran may change that.
There, he insisted, a slow but steady lifting of American sanctions has "yielded some tentative positive results," including recent reunions between North and South Korean families that have been separated for half a century.
Those differences include evidence that the United States is truly pulling out of Iraq, far tougher sanctions on Iran and the tentative emergence of a working Palestinian government in the West Bank.
That's because the agreement includes tentative plans for relief from the international sanctions that have caused real financial pain for those living in Iran over the past few years.
Barack Obama has praised a "historic agreement" over Iran's nuclear programme, shortly after a tentative framework was announced that would lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on Iran's nuclear capabilities.
The very public disagreement, at a news conference here, comes at a delicate moment for the administration, as it struggles to win support for tough new sanctions against Iran and to improve still tentative relations with Russia.
The fund also has no exposure to Russia, as its outlook has deteriorated following sanctions imposed by the US, and with only a tentative improvement in the oil price, they prefer to observe from the sidelines.
A tentative dialogue had already started when the police broke up an officially sanctioned student demonstration on Nov. 17, beating many demonstrators and arresting others.
He thanked EU states for imposing the latest round of sanctions against Russia, which were published on Friday, despite a tentative ceasefire in the east of Ukraine agreed last week.
