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Putin, Medvedev to meet top U.S. officials over security issues

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Russia's outgoing president and his elected successor will meet with top U.S. officials arriving in Moscow Monday for talks on missile defenses in Europe, a Kremlin official said.
MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's outgoing president and his elected successor will meet with top U.S. officials arriving in Moscow Monday for talks on missile defenses in Europe, a Kremlin official said.

The U.S. secretary of state and defense secretary are to meet with their Russian counterparts to discuss Washington's plans to install a radar in the Czech Republic and a missile base in Poland, which Moscow is opposed to calling the proposal a national security threat.

"A meeting between Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates will take place in the Kremlin today," the official said.

Gates was quoted by foreign agencies as saying en route to Moscow that the United States will offer no new proposals in Moscow and wants the Kremlin to make the next move.

"We've put a lot on the table and now it's time for them to reciprocate," Gates said.

The U.S. argues the bases are designed to counter missile attacks from 'rogue' states like Iran.

Washington offered late last year to allow Russian officials access to the proposed sites to ensure the radar is not targeted at Russia and interceptor missiles are kept non-operational until Iran's long-range missiles have been proved as a threat.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said earlier the measures could "not resolve the issue of creating a system to monitor missile threats throughout the world," but gave Russia "the opportunity to see that the U.S.' unilateral actions... do not pose a direct threat to the country at the given moment."

The ministry said the U.S. and Russian officials would also focus on Russia's unilateral moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty and on a new strategic arms reduction treaty to replace START-I, which expires in December 2009.

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