Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke over phone with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, discussing an expected UN draft resolution on Iran, the Interfax news agency reported.

The two leaders "discussed various issues of Russian-American interaction in international affairs, including the final stage of work in the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear program," the Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin press secretary Alexei Gromov as saying.

The talks came at a time when the UN Security Council is expected to vote on the European draft resolution on Saturday, which would impose sanctions against Iran over its unyielding nuclear program.

The draft, originally set to vote on Friday, was sponsored by Britain, France and Germany. It would slap a ban on imports and exports of materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.

The Europeans made a number of changes to the draft to meet Russian concerns, including watering down a contentious proposal for a travel ban on some Iranian officials directly linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Source: Xinhua