Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov is to attend a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning to discuss a draft resolution on the Middle East. The UNSC meeting is also to be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Russia and the United States co-sponsored the draft resolution which is intended to reaffirm the basic principles for the Middle East peace process.The UNSC meeting is to commence at 11:00 local time.

Prior to that, the Russian Minister will also participated in a meeting between the Six (Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China, and Germany) and the Foreign ministers of Arab states on Iran.

"Russia comes out in favour of using all that is necessary in the question of solving Iran''s nuclear problem so as to support the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Lavrov said Monday in response to journalists'' questions at a news conference held at the UN headquarters. "We shall avoid actions and steps that would hamper work in this respect or render it impossible," he emphasized.

A UNSC meeting on the situation in Somalia is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. It will be also attended by Sergei Lavrov and Condoleezza Rice. During the meeting the UNSC members are expected to approve a resolution on fight against sea piracy in Somali territorial waters.

Earlier this year, the UNSC members passed four resoltuion, almost one after another, applying sanctions against the pirates and allowing the naval ships of a number of countries to resist the pirates.