Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov Speaks to Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Frank Walter Steinmeyer by Telephone

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

On January 9, a telephone conversation between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FRG Frank Walter Steinmeyer took place at the German side's initiative.

The focus of the exchange of views was, in particular, the developments in the situation around the nuclear program of Iran. A mutual concern was expressed over the decision of Teheran to resume uranium enrichment research, which runs counter to the calls of the IAEA Board of Governors on Iran to keep moratorium on all the enrichment-related work.

The moratorium is being viewed in the IAEA Board of Governors as essential to solving the questions that are still open regarding the Iranian nuclear program.

January 10, 2006