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Ahmadinejad and PutinThe Russian scholar and independent analyst Dr. Nikolay Kozhanov shares his in-depth insight into the Russian approach towards the upcoming Moscow negotiations between P5+1 and Iran with Shirin Shafaie. Dr. Kozhanov was an attaché at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Tehran from 2006 to 2009, where he worked on Iran's nuclear issue among other socio-economic and energy-related issues. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute, a scholar at the nongovernmental Institute of the Middle East and a visiting lecturer at the School of Economics of the St. Petersburg State University. Dr. Kozhanov's monograph, Economic Sanctions Against Iran: Aims, Scale and Possible Consequences, was published in Moscow in June 2011. This is part 2 of 2. Read Part 1 here. ››read more

Today Xinhua reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here Friday that the format of "six plus one" for Iranian nuclear talks should continue. I assume this was an error by Lavrov but it is quite an interesting error. The talks are formally with the FIVE plus one -- specifically, the P5 and Germany (The P5 are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Russia, US, France, UK, China.) ››read more

Iran welcomes dialogue and has always been open to cooperation and talks with different countries on a wide range of issues, including cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, Jalili was quoted as saying on Friday. ››read more