Saturday, July 30 2005 11:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Russia's chief negotiator to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme underway here (Beijing) returned to Moscow as the talks dragged into the fifth day today (July 30, 2005).

The fourth round of the sensitive and difficult has lasted longer than the previous three unsuccessful rounds.

Alexander Alexeyev, also Russian deputy foreign minister, told a press conference that his deputy and other delegation members would stay in Beijing and he would come back "as soon as it's necessary to come back".

Alaxeyev ruled out any connection between his departure and the progress in the current round of talks, attributing his leaving to domestic affairs.

The fourth round of the six-party talks, involving the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan began here on Tuesday (July 26, 2005) after a 13-month hiatus.

While all six nations agree to a nuclear free Korean peninsula, North Korea and the United States, the main actors in the standoff, are wide apart on how to achieve it.