NEW YORK, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia Tuesday called on Iran to reimpose a voluntary ban on uranium enrichment before the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog reports to the organization's Security Council on April 28.
Andrei Denisov, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, said Russia remained optimistic that the long-running impasse over the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear program could be satisfactorily resolved by negotiations.
Moscow will host high-level talks on the Iran problem Tuesday involving representatives of all five permanent Security Council members - Russia, China, the United States, France, and the U.K. - plus Germany.
The UN Security Council demanded late March that Tehran re-impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, and ordered the the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on the country's compliance with the demand by the end of April. IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei visited Tehran last week for talks with Iranian officials.
Iran has been accused of pursuing a covert program to develop nuclear weapons, but has denied the accusations, insisting that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and that it has the right to produce nuclear fuel on its own soil.
