Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's brief visit to the Iranian capital came days before a meeting of the six powers involved in talks aimed at persuading Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
A spokesman for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quoted the president as saying: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has serious plans to develop cooperation with Russia."
During the meeting, Ahmadinejad pledged to continue cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and said his country's nuclear activities are being fully monitored by the watchdog, and are in strict compliance with international laws.
At the meeting between the five permanent Security Council members (Russia, the United States, France, China and the United Kingdom) and Germany set for the end of this week, the countries are expected to discuss new sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its refusal to halt parts of its nuclear program that Western countries say are geared toward producing atomic weapons.
The United States, France and the U.K. have said military action against Tehran cannot be ruled out, but Russia insists on a diplomatic solution, and supports Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Russia's nuclear equipment export monopoly Atomstroyexport has almost finished building Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Speaking on Tuesday night after his talks with Ahmadinejad, Lavrov warned against unilateral action against Iran, and said Russia would strictly follow UN Security Council decisions.
The U.S. unilaterally imposed further sanctions against Iran last Thursday, which will affect a number of Iranian banks, as well as two elite military units. Washington qualified Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and its elite Qods Force a supporter of terrorism.
On Tuesday, Iran's president dismissed the U.S. sanctions, saying the country would not be pressured into backing down on the nuclear issue.
