Representing Russia at the talks were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. The United States was represented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
The meeting took place before ‘two plus two’ consultations begin today in Moscow on missile defence, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and continued strategic offensive weapons reductions following the expiry of the START-1 Treaty.
The ‘two plus two’ consultation mechanism was established in 2002 following a Russian-U.S. declaration on new strategic relations.
The group’s sole meeting so far took place in September that same year. In May 2007, acting on a Russian initiative, an agreement was reached to resume the dialogue. Preliminary expert-level consultations took place on October 10–11, 2007.
Opening the meeting, Mr Putin set out his vision of how to develop cooperation between the two countries in these areas.