U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday hosted his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov, in a sign of increasing military cooperation and improving bilateral relations. In the first visit to the Pentagon by a Russian defense minister in five years, Serdyukov was greeted with a military ceremony before heading into a full day of discussions with Gates. U.S. officials said the meeting confirmed the Obama administration's goal of “re-setting” relations with Moscow, with the two sides finding areas of agreement on a range of issues, including arms control, the war in Afghanistan, and Iran's nuclear program. Gates and Serdyukov planned to sign two documents on defense cooperation, including one replacing an outdated 1993 deal, and to hold three formal meetings and a working dinner on a U.S. Navy boat on the Potomac River, chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. The two defense chiefs would be meeting for at least five hours, “which is an unusually long amount of time to devote to any visiting dignitary,” Morrell told reporters.
