MOSCOW (AP):
RUSSIA WILL hold talks on the Iranian nuclear issue in New York on Monday with the U.S., China and the three European nations involved in negotiations with Tehran, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday.
The meeting at the level of deputy foreign minister will bring together the U.N Security Council's five veto-wielding nations the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China and Germany, an unnamed Russian Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying.
"We expect to pursue the search for solutions that could help defuse the Iranian nuclear problem," the official was quoted as saying.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week suggested holding such talks in what was seen as an effort to stem the pressure for sanctions against Iran at the Security Council.
During an informal gathering of the 15 council members Thursday, however, diplomats agreed to hold the first formal Security Council consultations on Friday a sign that a split between Britain, France and the U.S. on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other, may have closed somewhat.
