Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called on the international community to start new talks with Iran over the country’s nuclear programme.
Lavrov discussed the issue with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner during a meeting on collective security in Paris. Bernard Kouchner agreed that dialogue was necessary, but noted that past efforts had made little progress. On March 3 the UN Security Council imposed a third round of sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Meantime, the issue of Kosovo, military co-operation between the countries as well as the deployment of the missile defence system in Europe were also on agenda in the French capital.