MOSCOW, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin told a U.S. delegation on Friday that Russia will find it difficult to remain in a treaty on the elimination of intermediate and short range missiles unless it is expanded to impose arms restrictions on other states.

    "We need to bring things to a point so that this Russian-American agreement is given a global nature .... If we are not able to do this, it will be difficult for us to remain within the bounds of this agreement," Putin said at the talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

    "The U.S.-Russian treaty's restrictions were leaving Moscow unable to respond to military build-ups in countries near its borders," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying.

    Russia and the United States signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a treaty on eliminating intermediate and short range missiles, in 1987.

    "In our opinion it is necessary to make those restrictions between the United States and the Russian Federation a truly universal treaty," the Russian president said, adding: "We need other international participants to assume the same obligations."

    Putin also said he hoped the U.S. would not rush to implement a plan to establish missile defense facilities in eastern Europe.

    "We hope that in the process of such complex and multifaceted talks, you will not be forcing forward your relations with the Eastern European countries," he said.

    Rice and Gates arrived in Russia for consultations in the "two-on-two" format on Friday afternoon. Russia's foreign and defense ministers participated in the talks at Putin's presidential residence of Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow.

    The talks focused on missile defense, the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, and ways to further reduce offensive arms after the START-1 (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) expires.

    The "two-on-two" consultations were first held in 2002 under a joint declaration on new strategic relations. The two countries agreed to resume the dialogue in May. The preliminary consultations at the expert level were held on Wednesday and Thursday.