MOSCOW. June 5 (Interfax-AVN) - Iran is ready to sign an additional protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the return of used nuclear fuel to Russia, Iranian Ambassador in Moscow Gholam Reza Shafei told Interfax at a Thursday briefing.
"Iran is ready to sign this protocol right now. We are only waiting for Russia to tackle the environmental problems related to the document," the ambassador remarked.
The protocol's text "has been coordinated, and ministers are due to sign it," he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said at a briefing in Moscow earlier in the day that Russia would not supply nuclear fuel to Iran until an agreement on used fuel had been signed.
"Nuclear fuel supplies to Iran will start when the protocol is signed. Russia will not make the deliveries without this," he said.
Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev made a similar statement the day before. "Russia will supply fuel for the future nuclear power plant in Bushehr only after signing a protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the return of used nuclear fuel from Iran," he stressed.