MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and NATO will Friday discuss interaction and current international problems including Iran, Balkans, and the Middle East at a joint session in the Bulgarian capital, a deputy foreign minister said.
Alexander Grushko said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would take part in a session of the Russia-NATO Council in Sofia as part of an informal meeting with NATO foreign ministers, who met separately yesterday.
Iran is expected to dominate the agenda, as Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reports to the organization's Security Council later Friday on the country's compliance with its international nuclear commitments.
The Security Council adopted a resolution late March, calling on the country to reimpose a moratorium on the enrichment of uranium and to allow further UN inspections of its nuclear sites. Russia has resisted calls to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which stands accused of pursuing a covert weapons program, a charge it denies, if it is found to be in breach of its international commitments.
Grushko said that Lavrov would meet with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and his counterparts from Belgium, Romania, and Bulgaria prior the session.
The Russia-NATO Council was established in 2002 and holds sessions once a year.
