JP/15/N00

MOSCOW (Agencies): U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton opened a new round of talks in Moscow on Monday on the U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system and Russia's cooperation in fighting terrorism.

His talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov had originally been scheduled for last week, but the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes against the World Trade Center and Pentagon forced the diplomats to reschedule their meeting. The talks are to pave the way for discussions later this week between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov.

Russia linked the fight against international terrorism with maintenance of the key 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in Monday's talks.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington show that the "real threat" presented by terrorism "can be met by strengthening the world order and the fight against terrorism," Mamedov said, as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Current strategic defense accords "are an integral part of that order," Mamedov said in a reference to the ABM treaty that Washington is planning to abrogate in order to build a missile defense shield.

International terrorism "is a real threat faced by the United States and Russia," Mamedov said going into the talks.

He said the two countries had to pool their efforts in order to meet the threat, and stressed that in Russian-US relations with regard to the issue of strategic stability, "the priority must be given to the fight against terrorism."

Their hour-long meeting was followed by talks between their respective delegations.

Moscow is bitterly opposed to the U.S. missile defense plan, and Bolton's talks were originally scheduled to discuss the issue and prepare a meeting in Washington on Wednesday between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

However, Russian officials have cautioned against hasty retaliation and said Moscow is unlikely to take part in possible U.S. strikes against Afghanistan, which has given sanctuary to suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

For the past several months, U.S. officials have been engaged in a full-court push to chip away at Moscow's resistance to the U.S. missile shield, which would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Washington had hoped that the parallel talks between diplomatic, military and security officials would yield some agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Texas in November.

The treaty is a foundation of the system of agreements that was intended to maintain a strategic nuclear balance in the world, and Moscow has declared it must not be abandoned for fear of unleashing a new nuclear race. But Bush's administration contends the treaty has outlived its usefulness, preventing the United States from developing defenses against potential nuclear threats from such nations as Iran and North Korea.

In July, Bush and Putin agreed to discuss the missile shield issue in tandem with talks on reducing nuclear missiles. Moscow has proposed bringing the number of missiles down to 1,500 for each side.

But Russian officials complain that the talks have not yet dealt with concrete numbers or a detailed description of the United States' planned missile shield.

Prior to meeting Bolton, Ivanov stressed that "the stronger our (Russian-U.S.) solidarity, the more effective our response to international terrorism will be."

He and the U.S. envoy would concentrate on the missile defense issue, leaving the delegations to concentrate on matters relating to the fight against terrorism, he said, as quoted by Itar-Tass.

Russia has given its assent to U.S. plans to take reprisals for last Tuesday's terror attacks in which more than 5,000 people are believed to have died, but has shown little enthusiasm for joining in a possible military intervention.

The United States is pondering military action in Afghanistan, bordering the former Soviet republics on Russia's southern flank, if it should be confirmed that the outrages were organized by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born businessman currently sheltered by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement.