Russian Official in U.S. Takes Conciliatory Tone : Diplomacy: Progress reported on summit agenda, but key disputes unresolved. Chechen truce fails to satisfy Washington.

Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev, striking a conciliatory note, said Wednesday that President Boris N. Yeltsin is ready for “serious and constructive” talks with President Clinton next month on disputes such as NATO expansion and Russia’s plan to sell nuclear technology to Iran.

Hours earlier at the Kremlin, Yeltsin told reporters he was ordering an immediate moratorium on offensive actions by Russian troops in Chechnya in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II. Russia’s brutal suppression of Chechnya’s attempted secession nearly wrecked Yeltsin’s efforts to coax Clinton to Moscow on V-E Day.

But the credibility of Yeltsin’s proclamation was undermined by fresh, bellicose warnings to the Chechen rebels from Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev. And American officials dismissed the cease-fire as inadequate.

In Washington, Kozyrev met for more than two hours with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, then told reporters that his government appreciated Clinton’s decision to visit Moscow from May 9 to May 11 to celebrate the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Kozyrev said the V-E Day event will create a constructive atmosphere for Clinton and Yeltsin to resolve disagreements that plague relations between the former Cold War adversaries. Fifty years ago, he said, Washington and Moscow were “not just partners but (military) allies.”

Unlike in his meeting with Christopher in Geneva last month, when he declared an end to the U.S.-Russia “honeymoon,” Kozyrev avoided inflammatory rhetoric. He even refused to restate Russia’s well-known objections to North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership for former members of the Warsaw Pact and its defense of a planned sale of two nuclear reactors to Iran.

Christopher and Kozyrev also made it clear that they had been unable to settle any disputes.

“We made good progress in finishing up the agenda for the summit,” Christopher said. He said he and Kozyrev will meet with Clinton today to go over plans.

On the sticky issue of Chechnya, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the United States did not consider Yeltsin’s temporary cease-fire to be enough: “This conflict cannot end in a military solution, it can’t be won on the ground by military means, it can only be resolved ultimately by political means and that means discussion” between Moscow and the rebels.

Russian troops have conquered and occupied more than 80% of Chechen territory in more than four months of deadly fighting, although they remain vulnerable to fire from rebels holed up in mountainous terrain.

Asked how the moratorium on fighting would be affected should rebels loyal to Chechen President Dzhokar M. Dudayev shoot at Russian soldiers, Yeltsin and Grachev gave conflicting predictions.

“Our commanders and our Defense Ministry have enough will and enough power to make everyone implement the will of the commander in chief,” Yeltsin said.

But Grachev conceded that the likelihood of Russian troops being engaged by the rebels is high. “This doesn’t mean that we stop shooting if armed gangs shoot at us,” he warned in an interview on Russia’s independent NTV. “Should this happen, that we come under fire, our actions will continue until the bandits are completely exterminated. There will be no mercy.”

Some aides, including Christopher, had urged Clinton to refuse to visit Moscow until the Chechnya conflict ends. In some meetings with Kozyrev, Christopher had said that Russia faces increasing international isolation as long as the fighting rages. But he mentioned the issue only in passing Wednesday during his brief joint news conference with Kozyrev.

Kempster reported from Washington and Williams from Moscow.