Russia calls for agreeing upon date, venue for P5+1-Iran talks
MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - Moscow insists on reaching an agreement on the date and venue of the next round of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers on Tehran's nuclear program as soon as possible.
"It is necessary now to agree upon the dates and venue of the next round of the negotiations as soon as possible. There is increasingly less time left until November 24, the date by which the parties should prepare a new agreement," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement available on the ministry website on Thursday evening.
Moscow "has taken note of a statement made at a high level in Tehran alleging that Russia is not really interested in reaching agreements at the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of international mediators on its nuclear program," Lukashevich said. "We absolutely cannot agree with this allegation. At all stages of the negotiations, the Russian Federation has acted not only constructively but also creatively to help as much as it could to find solutions acceptable to all parties," he said.
"The step-by-step approach and reciprocity principles based on which the negotiations are being held have been proposed initially by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov," Lukashevich said. "Our specialists have proposed a number of technical decisions to our partners for consideration, which, as we hope, would be in demand in developing a comprehensive agreement. We are doing multifaceted negotiating work in close contact with our Iranian counterparts," he said.
"This is exactly how we acted in New York, where another round was finished two weeks ago. This is how we will continue to act," he said.
