Russia said on Wednesday it hoped to see "serious progress" at this month’s talks in Kazakhstan between world powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program

Russia said on Wednesday it hoped to see "serious progress" at this month's talks in Kazakhstan between world powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
  
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the two sides had made no progress since the last round of top-level negotiations were held in Moscow at the end of June 2012. But he stressed that pressure will be high on both Iran and the world powers to climb down from their respective positions and seek middle ground at the February 26 meeting in Almaty.
  
"Despite everything, I would very much hope to see the upcoming round result in -- if not an outright breakthrough -- then serious progress," Ryabkov said in a wide-ranging interview with the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. "Because so far, we have not advanced past the stage at which we found ourselves in June" in Moscow.

"We have lost a lot of time," Russia's top nuclear negotiator said. "We do not think you can lose time anymore."