Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, on Friday evening in Geneva discussed ways to achieve a mutually acceptable agreement between the Sextet and Iran, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
“They discussed the situation at the Sextet’s Geneva talks between international mediators and Iranian representatives on settling the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear programme. They focused on ways to achieve mutually acceptable agreements between the Sextet and Iran,” the foreign ministry reported.
The Russian foreign minister arrived in Switzerland on Friday and headed immediately for the Intercontinental Hotel, to continue various contacts in the framework of negotiations between Tehran and the Sextet (five permanent UN’ Security Council members plus Germany). Besides talks with Catherine Ashton, Lavrov met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, details were not made available.
Russia sees ‘real opportunity’ for Iran nuclear deal
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sees a “real opportunity” for the six-party talks with Iran to reach a deal on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, the foreign ministry said Saturday.
In a statement released after Lavrov spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jarad Zarif in Geneva on Friday evening, the Russian ministry called the meeting “a comprehensive and interested exchange of opinions” about how to end disagreements in the negotiations.
“For the first time in many years, the ‘5+1’ and Iran have a real opportunity to come to agreement,” the statement quoted Lavrov as saying at the meeting.
Lavrov is to join his counterparts from the P5+1 group, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to reach interim accord with Iran on its nuclear programme after a decade of failed efforts.
Lavrov and Zarif discussed “key issues in the parties’ positions, which inhibit reaching decisions,” the statement said, without elaborating.
Lavrov flew to Geneva on Friday and had a late meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. No details of that conversation were released to the media.
