Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) attend the Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow on May 9, 2008. Russia's recent moves have led to speculation that Moscow is joining the West to seek sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov)

MOSCOW, May 13 (UPI) -- Former Russian President Vladimir Putin's last-minute decision to fulfill U.N. Security Council Resolution 1803 on Iran before handing over power to his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, surprised many. Has Russia decided to join the U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic? Will the new president shift Russia's policy regarding Iran to the West?

According to one version, in an attempt to try to persuade Putin to join sanctions against Iran, the White House signed the Russian-American agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the longtime dream of Russian nuclear fuel exporters, giving them the right to directly export low-enriched uranium to the United States without intermediaries.

Under another version, Putin decided to spare Medvedev from making the unpleasant but necessary decision.

It would be surprising if Russia, a co-author of the U.N. sanctions who voted for them, had not joined their enforcement.

Before signing the order shortly before Medvedev's inauguration, Putin had instructed Valentin Sobolev, acting secretary of the Russian Security Council, to tell Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Tehran that Russia would remain committed to the principles of its relations with Iran and that its policy does not depend on the man in power.