WASHINGTON (AP) - American and Russian officials are holding talks on missile defenses and weapons cutbacks in an attempt to come to an understanding before the first meeting between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-June.
Two U.S. and Russian working groups began deliberations at the State Department on Friday a few hours after Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov delivered a letter to Bush from Putin pledging a constructive relationship.
The talks are focused on Bush's aspirations for a shield against missile attack, which Russia hotly opposes as a step toward the potential unraveling of arms-control accords.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said 30 years of arms-control agreements would be under discussion. This includes the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which Bush has declared is a Cold War relic that should not inhibit a quest for an anti-missile system.
``What we're trying to do is together to define what kinds of threats we're talking about, what kind of challenges and what kinds of means and measures we have at our disposal to find solutions,'' Ivanov said.
``I know it's going to be lively,'' he said of the June 16 Bush-Putin summit in Ljubljana, capital of Balkan state Slovenia. Powell said Ljubljana was chosen because it suited the two leaders' travel schedules.
``We attach a high priority to the development of constructive relations with the United States,'' Ivanov said.
The smiling foreign minister, speaking in Russian, avoided criticism of the Bush administration or pointed references to disagreements that have roiled relations between Washington and Moscow.
Still, Ivanov would not embrace a U.S.-British proposal to lift U.N. sanctions on non-military exports to Iraq. ``We have our own proposals,'' he said, and discussions will continue at the United Nations.
Bush stressed to Ivanov in a 30-minute Oval Office meeting ``the importance of maintaining a constructive dialogue,'' Powell said after he held his third meeting with the foreign minister. They continued their talks over dinner.
Powell had said the talks, which began late Friday at the State Department, would cover all elements of U.S. and Russian strategic thinking.
The secretary stressed at a news conference with Ivanov that the United States will ``act on what we believe are our own best interests at that time'' in the event agreement is not reached with Russia or allies and other countries on a missile defense system or weapons cutbacks.
The summit in Solvenia will be Bush's first with Putin and his most significant meeting with a foreign leader since taking office.
It will come at the end of a five-nation trip by Bush to Europe, his most ambitious overseas venture, and could help reshape sometimes strained relations between Washington and Moscow.
But with deep differences on several fronts, including Bush's plan for an anti-missile system and Russia's continuing shipment of modern technology to Iran, prospects are uncertain.
On the Net: State Department arms control, international security bureau:
http://www.state.gov/t/
National Missile Defense Program:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/bmdolink/html/nmd.html
CIA Factbook on Russia:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rs.html