MOSCOW, July 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia notes progress at talks between Iran and the P5+1 group and hopes to reach a final agreement by July 20, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“The discussions are going on not so easily. Despite the existing problems, we hope that the parties will come to an agreement by July 20,” Lukashevich said.
“It is important that all participants in the talks will be committed to the Geneva agreements of November 24, 2013,” he added.
“Russia is doing its best to make the talks successful. We’re putting forth our offers for settling the disagreements,” Lukashevich said.
In the meantime, a diplomat of one of the delegations told ITAR-TASS that the foreign ministers could arrive in Vienna till the end of the week to extend the talks.
“They (the foreign ministers) can arrive in Vienna to give an impetus to the negotiations. Not all ministers will arrive: each party will take its own decision,” the diplomat said.
“This is a political gesture in order to prompt the parties to continue the negotiations or extend them,” he said.
A member of the US delegation said Secretary of State John Kerry was ready to leave for Vienna. However, a decision has not been taken yet, he said.
The EU foreign policy chief’s spokesman, Michael Mann, said Catherine Ashton was considering a possibility of gathering in Vienna.
A diplomatic source familiar with the situation told ITAR-TASS, “Talks faltered, there is no progress.”
The diplomat admitted that chances to finalize talks timely, by July 20, remained. However, “they are diminishing. I would estimate an opportunity to complete them timely at 60%”, he said.
The P5+1 is a group of countries that in 2006 joined the diplomatic efforts with Iran in regard to its nuclear program. The term refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, namely the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.