(L-R)U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov attend the news conference after their talks in the "two-plus-two" format in Moscow, Oct. 12, 2007. The two sides have failed to reach any agreement on missile defense on Friday.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States have failed to reach any agreement on missile defense, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters after talks with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Friday.

    Talks had failed to overcome differences on U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile defense system in Central Europe and Russian proposals to extend the START-1 (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), but a decision was made to continue discussions at an expert level, Rice was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

    Meanwhile, Rice said the United States is ready to discuss Russian concerns regarding the missile shield in Europe as soon as possible.

    Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates came to present the U.S. position at talks in the "two-plus-two" format that began in Moscow on Friday afternoon. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov are participating in the meeting on the Russian side.

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

    Russia refuses to give in to U.S. missile defense and CFE demands. Lavrov said that following the bilateral consultations, Russia again urged the United States to freeze its plan to deploy the missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

    Rice rejected the call, saying that related talks with Russia on the issue could continue.

    As a return, Lavrov said that Russia would be forced to take steps to "neutralize" the threat posed by the U.S. anti-missile shield in Central Europe.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin also on Friday asked the U.S. to abandon the missile defense plan, warning that it would hurt relations with Moscow.

    The United States has offered an alternative proposal on its missile defense plan aimed at settling disputes, and Russia will study it, the Russian foreign minister said.

    "Today our American counterparts presented their return proposal, aimed at finding a solution to the dispute," Lavrov said.

    Russia and the United States have agreed to draw up criteria to determine what should be classed as a missile threat.

    "If we manage to work out the criteria, it will become clear that the third site (for a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic) is not needed in the way that it was planned," Lavrov said.

    Moscow strongly opposes the U.S. missile shield plans, considering them a threat to its national security. Washington has insisted the missile shield is intended to stave off the threat of attacks from what it calls "rogue states."

    The United States is concerned about Russia's declared intention to withdraw from the CFE Treaty, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at a press conference after the talks.

    Gates said he hoped the parties would be able to bridge their differences and that specialists would work on finding a solution to the problem.

    However, Russia considers U.S. proposals on salvaging the CFE Treaty to be inadequate.

    "We put forward this summer our proposals on saving this treaty, suggesting how we could make it viable... Our American colleagues gave us their proposals during the current Moscow talks. We have voiced our opinion -- it is a step in the right direction, but we consider it to be insufficient," Lavrov said, without specifying details of the U.S. proposals.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in July a moratorium on the CFE Treaty, which limits Russian and NATO conventional forces and heavy weaponry from the Atlantic to the Urals. No NATO countries have ratified the treaty's amended version, and the moratorium is to come into force later this year if Western countries do not ratify the document.

    Moscow considers the original CFE Treaty, signed in 1990 by 30 countries to reduce conventional military forces on the continent, to be outdated since it does not reflect the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the breakup of the Soviet Union, or recent NATO expansion.

    According to Lavrov, Russia and the United States will continue their consultations on missile defense in Europe among their foreign and defense ministers in six months in Washington.

    "We have agreed that this format will deal with the practical implementation of the initiatives, which our countries jointly promote and implement on the international arena for the sake of strategic stability," the Russian FM said.

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