Russia counting on progress at Iran nuclear talks

TEHRAN,Feb.23(MNA) – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday he is counting on progress at a round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers next week, and added that momentum must be kept up after the talks to keep them on track, according to Reuters. The powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - are scheduled to hold a meeting with Iranian negotiators in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26 over the country’s nuclear program. The United States and a number of its allies claim Iran may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity and producing medical isotopes. “The group of six has carried out meaningful preparatory work for the round in Almaty,” Ryabkov told Reuters on a trip to Brazil with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “We are counting on some developments in the forthcoming round,” he said, without giving details. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who was in Russia this week, said Tehran hopes for positive steps at the talks. Ryabkov, who has been a member of the Russian delegation at past talks, cautioned against expecting any breakthroughs. “Without hope of movement forward - I underscore movement forward, progress, not a breakthrough, not a cardinal shift, that definitely won’t happen - but without hope of progress ... there is no sense to meeting,” he said. “Progress is slow and expectations are not very high, but it shows that we are not moving in the wrong direction.” Russia has worked to keep talks going and hosted talks last year, which European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called “intense”, but which ultimately produced no breakthrough. Ryabkov warned against any large gaps in time like the 15-month hiatus which preceded rounds of talks that led up to the Moscow meeting in order to keep work on track. “We don’t want a long pause for any period of time after Almaty which would be an obstacle for normal work on negotiations,” he said.