Source:

August 21, 2010

MOSCOW — Russia calls for the soonest meeting to discuss a fuel replacement scheme for the Iranian research reactor, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“We believe that this meeting should be held as soon as possible. The meeting format is a minor matter, while the agenda of the meeting is an essential issue. We should launch this dialogue as quickly as possible,” the high-ranking diplomat said.

The diplomat added that Russia would like to invite officials from Turkey and Brazil to participate in this meeting, as the countries signed the Teheran Declaration on the top level with Iran on May 17.

Ryabkov stressed that Russia was ready to cooperate further in this format.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signaled on Friday that Iran could resume nuclear talks without preconditions and halt uranium enrichment in exchange for guaranteed supplies of nuclear fuel.

In May, Turkey, Brazil and Iran signed an agreement in Teheran. Under the deal, Iran agreed to transfer 1,200 kg of low-enriched uranium to Turkey and receive within a year 120 kg of 20-percent- enriched uranium in return, to keep Teheran’s medical research reactor running.