On February 23rd 2004, Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Losiukov arrived in Beijing by air for the second round of the six-party talks scheduled for February 25th. The delegation he headed was the first among the foreign delegations to arrive in Beijing for the talks.

Losiukov said at the airport that he was "cautiously optimistic" over the prospect of the upcoming talks. He indicated that he would head for the Chinese Foreign Ministry directly for consultations with the Chinese side and would also hold consultations the next day with the other 4 countries involved in the talks.

He said that Sino-Russian cooperation had been "very effective" since the conclusion of the first round of talks held last year and the two countries had "very close" stances. Today's consultations with the Chinese side will create conditions for good results of the talks.

Losiukov candidly admitted that there remained "some uncertainties" for the talks and said that the parties would fully elaborate on their positions during the first-day session. The Russian side hopes that the talks can make some headway.

He expressed Russia's support for the proposal by the DPRK to freeze the nuclear program and held the view that this could be one of the phases leading to the final solution to the nuclear issue and concrete steps to implement the proposal would be negotiated during the talks.