GENEVA, December 16. /TASS/. Expectations from the next round of talks of Iran and the P5+1 group of international mediators /five members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany/ on the Iranian nuclear programme are quite realistic, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.
“Expectations are realistic,” he said. “It is not a mere diplomacy meant to hide there are none, but an evidence of our sober assessment of what is going on. When the previous round ended on November 24, the parties were virtually two steps from an agreement. We have told this more than once and this is not an exaggeration.”
“It is important that after our latest meeting the capitals of all key players, including Moscow, have sent signals that we will continue right from the point we stopped at,” he noted. “I hope this time there will be no backtracking typical of difficult talks after a pause.”
“I don’t think we will settle everything and reach an agreement right tomorrow or the morning after tomorrow, but it is important that we will come closer to the target, despite attempts by certain circles to question the expediency of this agreement, to add their own domestic political consideration to this work. We believe that the result of these negotiating efforts will serve the cause of global and regional security,” the Russian diplomat said.
“It is particularly important for the Middle East, where destabilization tendencies have been augmenting in the recent time,” he underscored.