US and Russia to discuss Iran
Ms Rice and US defence secretary Robert Gates will meet their Russian counterparts
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Friday, 12, Oct 2007 06:58
The United States and Russia will hold talks in Moscow today to discuss issues such as the Iranian nuclear programme, the status of Kosovo and US missile defence plans in Europe.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and defence secretary Robert Gates will meet their Russian counterparts in a joint session called a 'two plus two' format.
On her way to Moscow, Ms Rice told reporters that she would try "to find a cooperative path on missile defence" during the meeting. Previously Russia has warned that it will point missiles at Europe if American plans to set up an early warning system in the Czech Republic, and missile systems in Poland, go ahead.
The US secretary of state emphasised that weapons facilities in the former communist-controlled states were needed to address the possibility of a threat from Iran's nuclear programme.
Speaking about the American position on the sites, Ms Rice said: "We've been very clear that we need the Czech and Polish sites. This is an appropriate discussion between allies as to how to bring about security for the allies.
"We've talked a lot with our Nato allies about the indivisibility of....European and American security.
"But I think we ought to look at all the possible elements of what the president [US president George W Bush] and President Putin called a kind of regional architecture for missile defence," she stressed.
Ms Rice said that Iran's refusal to halt the enrichment of uranium would also be brought up, but ruled out compromising on missile plans in Europe to boost progress on the Iranian nuclear issue. Russia has stated that there is no proof of an Iranian nuclear bomb, unlike the US which fears that the Islamic republic plans to build such a weapon.
However Ms Rice added that Russian proposals to host missiles in Azerbaijan, and to process nuclear fuel for Iran, would be considered.
She also revealed that the renewal of Cold War arms control treaties and the status of Kosovo, which neither side agrees upon, were on the agenda for the talks with Russia.