Deputy FM Ryabkov, U.S. diplomat to not discuss Iran
VIENNA. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller in Moscow on Friday.
"I am scheduled to meet with her in Moscow on Friday," Ryabkov told reporters after his arrival in Vienna.
"We will have a multidimensional conversation on Friday but I do not think that the Iranian nuclear program will come up, because all events relating to that are happening in Vienna and Ms. Gottemoeller and I have an absolutely different and separate agenda," he said.
Ryabkov said he had not planned to meet with Gottemoeller in Vienna, where the Russian diplomat had arrived to attend negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran.
The Moscow meeting agenda will include strategic stability, the activity of the "nuclear five", preparations for next year's Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Treaty Review Conference and the creation of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East, he said.
Ryabkov disagreed with the opinion that the sides "exchanged criticism" of the Russian and U.S. fulfillment of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) at his previous meeting with Gottemoeller on September 11-12.
"In fact, the "exchange of criticism" happened much earlier, several months ago, and partially in public. As to September 11-12, we held consultations in an interdepartmental format on every aspect of the fulfillment of the INF Treaty, including whether or not to continue interdepartmental discussions the way they started in the early 2000s, the appearance of new factors in this field, which were non-existent in the past, and the possibility and expediency of further dialogue," the diplomat said.
Ryabkov admitted that the sides had also discussed Russia-U.S. differences over the issue.