US`s Rice Faces Kremlin Over Missile Shield, Iran

Putin has accused the United States of seeking to dominate the world.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will push U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe despite Kremlin opposition and argue for tougher sanctions on Iran when she meets top Russian officials in Moscow on Friday.

Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in the so-called "2+2" meeting.

Topping the agenda is the U.S. plan to put radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland. Washington says they are needed to protect against missiles from "rogue" states, such as Iran and North Korea. Russia sees the plan as a threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed the two countries use Russian-operated early warning radar in Azerbaijan instead.

"We have been very clear that we need the Czech and Polish sites," Rice said on her way to Moscow, where she arrived early on Friday. "But we are interested in other potential sites as well and ... we may be able to find ways to put that together.

"The real central point is that there isn't a threat from the United States to Russia and from Russia to the United States any longer," said Rice, who was trained as a Soviet specialist during the Cold War.

Putin is expected to host a short meeting with the ministers, Kremlin deputy spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Undoubtedly there will be an exchange of views on the missile defence issue and on the other, most critical questions on which there are differences," he said.

The talks in Moscow are also likely to cover Russia's threat to leave the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and what might succeed the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, which expires in 2009.

STRAIN

President George W. Bush and Putin say they are friends, but ties have been strained by Washington's plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, the war in Iraq, Kosovo's demand for independence and how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme.

Putin, who has sought to revive Russian influence after the chaos that followed the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, has accused the United States of seeking to dominate the world.

Washington has expressed concerns over the erosion of democratic and media freedoms in Russia and urged Putin to ensure democratic elections.

Russia holds parliamentary elections in December and presidential elections in March. The United States holds elections in November 2008.

With the elections looming, neither side has shown any sign of backing down on missile defence, a cornerstone of Bush's national security policy.

Russian officials said discussions over missile defence had been tough.

"It has been a tough but serious discussion," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. When asked if the U.S. and Russia had moved closer on missile defence, he said: "We will see from future meetings."

Ahead of Putin's visit to Tehran next week, Rice is likely to be keen to press U.S. concerns about Iran.

The United States and key EU nations, which suspect Iran is seeking to build nuclear bombs under the cover of its civilian nuclear programme, are pushing for new U.N. Security Council sanctions to punish Iran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment.

Putin says there is no evidence that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. Iran says it is not developing nuclear bombs.