Interfax's Interview

 "We are heading towards the talks with cautious optimism. We deem the resumption of the talks important and are determined to work to promote them further. Patience and consistency are important for implementing the tasks set," Russian special envoy Vladimir Rakhmanin said in an interview with Interfax on Monday. "This will be the Russian delegation's guiding principle," he said.

 Rakhmanin will lead a Russian delegation to the Beijing consultations.

 "A lot of work has yet to be done. The goal set in the joint statement of September 19, 2005, is the verifiable peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. A great deal will have to be done to achieve it," he said.

 "In some instances, things initially hidden from the surface could become a subject of disputes. One must be ready for this without being overly dramatic," Rakhmanin said.

 "The meeting will definitely proceed against a favorable background now that North Korea has made a sufficiently productive decision to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy agency," he said. IAEA experts are in Yongbyon, and they have confirmed the reactor's deactivation. South Korea has delivered the first consignment of fuel oil to the North, he said.

 Russia has called for a flexible schedule for settling the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula, Foreign Ministry envoy Vladimir Rakhmanin said.

 "Efforts are being taken in several areas, including the nuclear, economic and security ones. There are bilateral efforts and efforts taken in the six-nation format. It is important to synchronize all these tracks and areas and make them more or less simultaneous," he said.

 "We should be flexible in the achievement of the main goal, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Rakhmanin said.

 The diplomat will represent Russia at the Beijing consultations of delegation chiefs on July 18-19. The six-nation negotiations on the Korean nuclear problem will bring together Russia, the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China and Japan.

 U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and chief negotiator Christopher Hill said earlier that Washington would suggest the adoption of a nuclear settlement roadmap at the upcoming consultations.

 "I am not inclined to categorize or speak of a roadmap. I think that we should simply discuss our next steps. We should sum up the results of the first phase of the settlement process and decide what we should do together," Rakhmanin said, commenting on Hill's idea.

 As for Washington's attempts to link the signing of a peace treaty with North Korea and the denuclearization of the peninsula, Rakhmanin said, "I think that these solutions wholly depend on our flexibility. I'd rather not comment on this position."

 "I would like to emphasize that we are interested in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and are ready to take any steps that could promote the achievement of that goal," he said.

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