Powell, Ivanov Meet on Strategic Framework

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov began talks Thursday expected to focus on aspects of a new strategic framework for defining post-Cold War relations.

Outside the Russian Embassy late Wednesday, Ivanov told reporters: “During the course of the talks, we will be discussing strategic stability.”

The talks, held at the State Department, were in preparation for a Nov. 13-15 summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin at the White House and at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Ivanov added: “For the last several months, we’ve been holding active consultations on antiballistic missile defense, and right now we have to exchange our opinions on which direction we should move forward.”

He said the talks also would touch upon fighting terrorism. “We will discuss mutual fighting against international terrorism,” Ivanov said. “We positively value our cooperation in fighting international terrorists, and we hope to continue our cooperation between the two countries in this matter.”

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Wednesday that the aim of the talks was to move forward on a broad range of issues in advance of the summit.

“I expect they’ll have extensive discussions of all the issues in the U.S.-Russia relationship, especially the strategic framework issues, offensive systems--and continue their work on the strategic framework,” Boucher said.

“There is any number of areas of cooperation against terrorism that the United States and Russia will want to discuss. But the whole meeting should be seen in the context of expanding cooperation and working together in all these areas,” he said.