YANGON, Myanmar Hoping to deflect outrage over images of soldiers gunning down protesters, Myanmar's hard-line leader announced Thursday that he is willing to talk with detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi but only if she stops calling for international sanctions.

Senior Gen. Than Shwe also insists Suu Kyi give up urging her countrymen to confront the military regime, state television and radio said in reporting on the conditions set by the junta leader during a meeting this week with a special U.N. envoy.