US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov on Thursday amid tensions between
the two countries.
"They are obviously going to talk about Quartet issues, but they
have a lot of other US-Russia as well as multilateral issues that
are on both of their plates," State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said at a briefing.
McCormack said the talks, held on the sidelines of a Quartet
meeting on the Middle East, will continue on Friday and will
discuss issues including Iran, tension in former Soviet republics
and Russia's political and economic reform.
Russia, who has close economic ties with Iran, has complained
about US efforts to isolate Iran as well as the US move to dispatch
a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf region.
Moreover, the Bush administration has criticized Russia for its
alleged "backsliding" of democracy.
The United States has repeatedly accused Iran of supporting the
insurgents in Iraq and secretly developing nuclear weapons under
the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied these
charges.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)
