Russia and the United States will sign an agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy this fall, a senior Russian official said here on Tuesday.
"We have finally started to radically revive the basis of our cooperation and have agreed during the year with the U.S. to cooperate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy," said Nikolai Spassky, state secretary of the Russian Atomic Energy Agency.
The protocol "won't solve all the problems, of course, but it is the first step as part of the framework of our cooperation," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying at a round table meeting.
"We expect that the document will be signed this fall," he said.
Details of the agreements were still unavailable.
On the same occasion, Spassky said the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is moving forward in full compliance with international law and could encourage Iran to cooperate more intensively with the international community.
Russian contractors are building the first nuclear power plant in Iran. The United States, however, along with other Western countries, has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons.
