Washington: US and Russian officials will hold talks in Washington today in a new bid to bridge gaps over US plans to deploy parts of a missile shield in eastern Europe, US officials said.
The talks led by US arms control expert John Rood and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak will follow up high-level US-Russian talks in Moscow last week, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Russia opposes US plans to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic as part of an anti-missile system, which Washington said is aimed at protecting against "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.
But, in a first sign of progress in tough talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last Thursday that Washington gave Moscow guarantees that its proposed anti-missile shield "will be not directed" at Russia.
He was speaking after he and Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Gates who handed over written proposals aimed at easing Russian concerns.
One of the US proposals involves allowing Russians access to the missile system sites. The meeting in Washington is to "address security issues including missile defence, following up on the 2-plus-2 meeting of foreign and defence ministers in Moscow last week," a State Department statement said.
"I m sure that transparency is going to be one of the big issues that they focus on," McCormack added.
"Anything that is mutually agreeable with us and the Russians of course has to be agreeable to the host governments."
