Rumsfeld meets Russian counterpart in Moscow

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov met in Moscow today to discuss US-Russian co-operation in the anti-terrorist campaign.

Also on the agenda were nuclear arsenal cuts and American plans for a missile defence system, and US-Russian co-operation in the anti-terrorist campaign.

Rumsfeld’s meeting with Ivanov and one scheduled later with Russian President Vladimir Putin are part of an accelerating series of consultations before Putin’s summit meeting with US President George W Bush on November 13-15. The two leaders will meet in Washington and at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Nuclear arms cuts and the two countries’ dispute over the future of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty will top the summit agenda. In talks so far, officials have made more progress on the weapons cutbacks Moscow desires than on the sensitive missile defence issue, US officials have said.

On his flight to Moscow, Rumsfeld said that a US anti-missile defence can be deployed without violating the ABM treaty: ‘‘We will deploy a missile defence, and that can be done with the treaty still in place.’’

Still, Bush would like to get Putin’s agreement for the United States to conduct tests forbidden by the ABM treaty, and seems willing to give Russia the nuclear missile cuts it seeks.

The Bush administration’s eagerness to get started on the scheme has increased in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

A shield is seen by senior officials as a protection not only against rogue states but also terrorist groups like the al-Qaida network.

From Russia Mr Rumsfeld will jet to Tajikistan and then Uzbekistan, two former Soviet republics that have borders with Afghanistan.

He also plans to visit Pakistan and India before returning to Washington on Monday night.