U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin will meet shortly after the latter is sworn into office in early May, UPI quoted the Kremlin as saying. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Kommersant FM radio Tuesday the two agreed to meet during a March 10 telephone conversation, six days after Putin was declared the winner of Russia's presidential election, RIA Novosti reported. "Obama called Putin and they had a substantial discussion on key aspects of Russian-American relations and agreed to hold a direct meeting soon after the Russian president's inauguration," Lavrov said. The diplomatic chief said the two leaders will have wide-ranging talks on all aspects of U.S.-Russia relations, including the disagreements between the two nations over the deployment of a U.S.-led European anti-missile defense shield. Moscow has long opposed the effort, which the United States and its NATO allies say is meant to protect Europe from missiles launched by "rogue states". But Russia, which fears it could be targeted against its own missile force, insists it must be granted full partnership in the operations of any European shield. Despite agreeing to work together in the issue two years ago, the United States and NATO continue to press for the establishment of two anti-missile systems -- a Russian one and a U.S.-led one -- while Moscow wants a single system to be operated jointly by both sides. Despite the long-standing deadlock on the issue, Lavrov told the Moscow broadcaster the Kremlin remains open to talks. "We are not closing doors for talks but want to professionally and honestly continue them without avoiding direct questions," he said.
