"We have not discussed Iraq yet but we have more talks ahead. Russia stands for a political settlement of the situation there carried out primarily under the auspices of the United Nations. Russia was the first country speaking in favor of holding an international conference on Iraq," Mr. Ivanov said.
According to him, Russia believes that the need for such a conference has become yet more urgent now.
The Ministers also discussed the situation in Georgia which, in Sergei Ivanov's opinion, has been unfolding according to a very dangerous scenario.
"We have discussed this issue. I have voiced certain concerns and anxieties that Russia has in this connection but I would not like to make those public now. The situation in Georgia has been spiraling up according to a very dangerous scenario. At the same time, we were pleased to learn that no major exchanges of gunfire were registered overnight," Sergei Ivanov said.
According to him, withdrawal of all illegal armed forces from the area of conflict must be the first step in an effective settlement of this dispute.
"As for Georgia's claims that Russian peacekeepers are biased and tend to lean in favour of one of the conflicting parties, I must say that it is complete nonsense. Even in terms of formal logic - no one has voiced any discontent for over a decade, but now that the conflict has escalated they all of a sudden turn out to blame. I call it blame-shifting," Sergei Ivanov said.
