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Moscow: Russia and the United States failed yesterday to agree on Washington's plans to deploy parts of a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates had also produced no agreement on how to replace a Cold War-era pact on long-range nuclear weapons when it expires.
Announcing the failure to arrive at an agreement, Lavrov told a news conference: "...I mean first and foremost on the missile shield plan and the future of the START treaty after it expires next year."
Moscow opposes the missile defence shield, saying its deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic would threaten its security. Washington says it is needed as protection against "rogue states".
Despite these failures at the talks in Moscow, Rice said the meetings had been useful and the two sides had agreed to negotiate a strategic framework agreement governing all aspects of their relationship.
Rice and Gates met Lavrov and Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov after seeing President Vladimir Putin and president-elect Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.
Priority areas
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the United States had proposed a document to Russia setting out priority areas for long-term discussion and the sides were discussing it.
"It lays out a series of issues that we believe we should be focusing on, working together on now as our governments transition in the coming months and as new administrations take shape", Morrell said.
Putin referred to the document on Monday, when he said President George W. Bush had sent him a letter which offered a chance to improve relations.
Putin critics: Rice tries to play it safe
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has criticised the Kremlin for harassing the political opposition, met some leading Russian liberals yesterday but did not see Moscow's most strident critics.
Among those invited to the US embassy residence for the meeting with Rice were Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the small Yabloko party, and Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent who lost his seat in the State Duma (parliament) last year.
But the harshest critics of President Vladimir Putin, whose attendance would have irked the Kremlin, were absent. They included former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and ex-world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who were both prominent in denouncing the March 2 presidential election in which Dmitry Medvedev, a protege of Putin, was elected. Some human rights activists were also noticeably absent.
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