The U.N. Security Council delayed a vote on an overhaul of sanctions against Iraq at Russia's request, Western diplomats said Wednesday. The five veto-wielding permanent council members - including Russia and the United States - introduced a resolution Monday aimed at tightening the 11-year-old military embargo on Saddam Hussein's regime while easing the flow of civilian goods into Iraq.

Diplomats had predicted a vote as early as Wednesday but now say the council may not act on the resolution until early next week.

Russia told a meeting of experts from the 15 nations on the Security Council that it doesn't want a vote this week, diplomats said.

Even though all substantive issues have been resolved, Russia wants President Vladimir Putin to take a final look at the new sanctions package and sign off on it, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

As a permanent council members, Russia can veto any resolution.

Diplomats said Syria, an elected council members with no veto power, also had some problems with the resolution and didn't want an immediate vote.

Publicly, Syria says it hasn't received instructions from its capital. But privately, diplomats said Syria has questioned why the council should vote on a revision of sanctions against Iraq, a close ally, when Israel is refusing to comply with council resolutions demanding an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and deployment of a U.N. fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp.

The proposed resolution would approve a six-month extension of the oil-for-food program, which began in 1996 to help Iraq's people cope with sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.