MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Iran and a group of six powers have extended their negotiations for the last time and that the final deal would soon be ready, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists on Tuesday.
“The remaining issues are so obvious and clear that we do hope the extension (of negotiations) which has been announced is really going to be the last one but not ultimate,” the Russian deputy foreign minister said.
“Considerable efforts will certainly have to be exerted to agree on technical appendixes. But the main document, I believe, will soon be in a high degree of readiness,” Ryabkov went on to say.
Moscow is not ready to prove that the talks had no setbacks, but progress was made on all issues, he said. “I understand that it would be very difficult to change the view about the negotiations’ setback,” he said. “Actually, I’m not also ready to prove otherwise, because as we said the sides were a footstep or even half of a footstep away from reaching agreements.”
“What is important and worth mentioning is that the sides attained rapprochement on absolutely all issues,” Ryabkov said. “This is not an exaggeration, because officials in different capitals say considerable progress was made.”
“And the progress magnitude may be measured differently,” the diplomat added. “It may be measured by the number of the pages of the agreed text and also by the complexity of the made decisions.
Russia hopes the agreements achieved by Iran and the sextet of international mediators will not be washed away by a “political tsunami,” Sergey Ryabkov added.
“Any disruption in the talks, any procrastination in negotiations, any delay in achieving a solution not only causes psychological effects on participants, but starts political waves,” he said. “We do hope that these waves will not be the size of a tsunami and everything that has been achieved in Vienna will not be washed away by that tsunami.”
“In any case, this is the call we addressed to all of our partners yesterday,” Ryabkov said. He recalled Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s promise “the Russian delegation and Moscow will be doing their utmost for the sake of achieving an agreement.
All countries make additional proposals at Iran’s talks with the P5+1 group of international mediators (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany), the Vienna round of talks saw no scandals, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
“All countries make additional proposals in a bid to find a solution,” he told journalists when asked what kind of proposals had been voiced by the Chinese foreign minister. “I cannot speak for the Chinese colleagues, but what is true is the fact that this round was not just going round in circles but a round of creative efforts and very constructive and collective work, without scandals, without “electricity” and sparks. So, I wish this attitude stays for a while."
Situation in Syria, Iraq, around Islamic State had no direct impact on Iran-P5+1 talks
Neither the state of affairs in Syria and Iraq nor the situation around the Islamic State had any direct impact on the talks Between Iran and the P5+1 group of international mediators, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
“There were no direct impacts,” he said when asked a corresponding question. “We tackled only these problems (Iran’s nuclear dossier), never switching to other topics.”
“I am not speaking about bilateral meetings between the ministers,” he noted. “When they had contacts, they touched upon a variety of issues, including non-regional. When ministers gather together in one place, it’s only natural that they discuss various problems and aspects.”
“But we felt no direct impact of what is going on in Syria and Iraq, or the situation around the Islamic State, etc. on the process of talks,” he added.