Russia-US dispute over Ukraine not to affect Iran-world power nuclear talks

Russia does not believe that relations with the United States will affect nuclear talks between the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) and Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday. "We do not see such indicators yet," the Russian official told ITAR-TASS upon arrival in the Austrian capital. "I do not believe (that this will happen), this would be wrong," the Ryabkov added. Meanwhile, he noted that progress in talks on Iranian nuclear program was beneficial for all parties concerned. Earlier today, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his accompanying team of negotiators, left Tehran for Vienna to take part in a third round of talks with the six major world powers after the November deal between Iran and the sextet. This round of talks would be the final step before preparing a draft of a comprehensive deal between the two sides. The third round of negotiations is scheduled for April 8-9 at the UN headquarters in Vienna. A number of Iranian international law advisors are accompanying the team in the trip. The EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton plans to meet with Zarif on Monday to discuss the latest positions of the two sides and conclude views of experts talks between Iran and G5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) held in Vienna recently. Iran and the Group 5+1 ended their expert-level talks in Vienna on Saturday afternoon as the head of the Iranian team described the negotiations as useful. The experts talks between Iran and the six world powers (the US, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany) started on Thursday and lasted for three days. Speaking after the last session of the talks, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Director-General for Political and Legal Affairs, Hamid Baeidinejad who led the Iranian delegation, described the negotiations with the expert teams of the six world powers as "useful". The talks between Tehran and the six world powers are part of efforts to seal a final deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program. The experts meeting will now be followed by talks between the top negotiators of Iran and the Sextet from April 7 to 9. Iran and the Group 5+1 representatives had several sessions of talks in Vienna on March 18-19. On November 24, Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over the latter's nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet of the world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and impose no nuclear-related sanctions on Iran during the six-month period.