US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Moscow for talks with the Kremlin leadership, delivering a new round of criticism of Russia on issues ranging from democracy to nuclear safety and energy policy. (AFP photo)

MOSCOW, April 19 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Moscow Tuesday for a two-day visit to Russia to prepare for a summit between US President George W. Bushand his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

    Rice is in town to meet top Russian officials ahead of the meeting early next month between Putin and Bush, who is due to attend celebrations in Moscow on May 9 marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

    Rice will meet Putin and hold talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.

    Rice's arrival was shadowed by a bomb threat at her hotel. Russian news agencies quoted police officials as saying they received a report about a bomb planted in the Renaissance Hotel incentral Moscow, where Rice was due to stay.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen here in Moscow, 18 April 2005. (AFP photo)

    Rice was diverted to the residence of the US ambassador to Russia and her delegation was given the "all-clear" after Russian authorities searched the hotel and found no explosives there.

    "Police officers with trained dogs have examined the place. They did not find anything suspicious," a Moscow police official was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.

    A US official who requested anonymity said Rice's team has got the "all-clear" to go to the hotel and Rice was attending a dinnerwith Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as scheduled.

    The schedule of Rice's Moscow visit has not been altered, a US embassy official was quoted by Interfax as saying.

    From Moscow, Rice will travel on to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to attend a regular foreign ministers' meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as meetings of the NATO-Russia Council and the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

¡¡  Bomb threat forces Rice to change route

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday arrived in Moscow for a two-day visit to Russia but was diverted from her planned route to the US embassy after a bombthreat at her hotel, a US official said.

    

The Renaissance Hotel where U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice is staying in Moscow, Tuesday, April 19, 2005. Rice's arrival in Moscow was delayed because of a bomb threat at the hotel. A senior U.S. State Department official said there were two bomb threats, one at the hotel itself and an earlier one in the vicinity of the hotel. (AP photo)

    The threat was made on the Renaissance Hotel in the center of Moscow and Russian authorities are investigating, said the official who requested anonymity.

    The Itar-Tass news agency quoted a reliable source as saying Rice arrived safely at the embassy.

    The US embassy was quoted by the Interfax news agency as declining to comment officially on the reports saying details willbe announced later. Enditem