A new round of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue in Beijing are expected to finish by the end of this week and may fix a date for the next meeting, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev said Monday.

"It is premature to talk about results, because the six-party process is continuing," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Alexeyev as saying. "We are expecting the talks to last some more days."

The six parties, including China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan, are now trying to achieve a joint document of the fourth round of talks, the deputy minister said.

He added that despite some disagreements, Russia is hoping for an acceptable final document.

Earlier, Alexeyev told Tass that his country called for an extension of security guarantees to Pyongyang, which Moscow believes is important for resolving the nuclear issue.

The fourth round of the six-party talks, initiated in 2003 to seek ways for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, resumed in Beijing last Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua