Russian envoy Ulyanov: No stagnation or alarming situation in talks on restoring Iran nuclear deal, work is going intensively

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - The Russian side does not subscribe to the position of the E3 that the talks on the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal are close to a deadlock, Russian Permanent Envoy to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said.

"It is quite natural that talks participants differently assess the situation. It's like the well-known argument of whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. In my view, the situation is not alarming at all. The work is going, and it is going intensively," Ulyanov told Interfax.

"Literally in a couple of hours, me and my Chinese colleague, we're going to meet with the head of the U.S. delegation, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley. After that, we'll hold a meeting in a broader format. Apart from the aforementioned participants, there will be representatives of Euro-Troika countries and coordinators from the European Union at the meeting. After that broad-format meeting there will be another one, which Chinese colleagues and I will also be attending, along with political directors from France, the United Kingdom and Germany," he said.

"In other words, one just cannot say that there is a stagnation in the talks. The work is going in a very intensive way," Ulyanov said.