US President George W. Bush telephoned Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to repeat an invitation for further "two- plus-two" talks on US missile defence plans, it was stated Monday, according to dpa. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted the Kremlin press service as saying both sides emphasized the usefulness of the October 12 meetings in Moscow between their foreign and defence ministers. These addressed strategic defence issues - foremost Russian objections to US plans to build a missile defence system in Eastern Europe - and promised to continue the dialogue. Proposals by Russia to allow the use of Russian missile tracking facilities in Azerbaijan and southern Russia have proved as unsatisfactory as US assurances that the system would provide joint defence against "rogue states" such as Iran. The issue of Iran's nuclear programme was sure to have been another reason for Washington's approach to Moscow on Monday, observers said. Following Putin's visit to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week in Tehran, Bush said he would be "looking forward to getting President Putin's readout from the meeting." Russian and Iranian officials had said after the visit that Putin had proposed a new way to help resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, but did not voice any details.
