GENEVA, November 23, 13:27 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia considers unacceptable the statements that the lack of a breakthrough at the Geneva talks is a responsibility of the Iranian side, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Saturday.

“We are concerned about rather one-legged comments in the Western media today,” he said. “The impression is that anonymous sources in several delegations are doing much to lay responsibility for a lack of progress on the Iranian side.”

“We do not consider this situation fair,” the deputy foreign minister said.

“Any negotiations, especially on such a sensitive issue as settlement of the situation around the Iranian nuclear programme require silence from the media,” Ryabkov said. “Those, who despite the understanding of the importance not to allow leaks, still reveal information on the negotiations, violate the agreement.”

“The essence of negotiations is to find a balance of steps towards each other and to offer a document, which could satisfy all the participating parties,” he said. “As a certain moment the participants in the negotiations seem one of the sides may be responsible for a lack of progress, but in just several hours the situation may change and another side may become responsible for the lack of progress.”

“If every development of the kind is published, there is no talking about a diplomatic negotiation process,” the deputy foreign minister added.

Offers from Russia

Russia will do everything possible to approach a breakthrough at negotiations between Iran and the Sextet, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

“We, while working as a part of the Sextet, and during our contacts with the Iranian counterparts have been applying maximum effort to approach necessary decisions,” the diplomat said. “The efforts are multifaceted. They are not only discussions of the situation, not only an exchange of views, but also detailed suggestions on the wording, the suggestions on the text, which the Russian side has been presenting for three days now.”

“We confirm with satisfaction that several of Russian approaches, including the principal one, which have been expressed by the Russian president and foreign minister at various stages, as well as certain variants of the text, which we are suggesting now, find support,” Ryabkov said. “In the logics, in the directions, in our opinion, they are balanced, reasonable and fair.”

“We see with satisfaction that in many aspects our suggestions have been included in the body of the drafted document,” he said in conclusion.