Clinton, Lavrov see progress on disarmament talks

October 5th, 2009 Russian FM: Iran enrichment deal needs finalizingMOSCOW — Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that an agreement reached between Tehran and six world powers last week for Russia to help enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor has yet to be finalized. Lavrov said that experts would have to work out specifics of the deal involving the United States, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

August 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reaffirmed Washington's commitment to six-party talks and cut short speculation that the US is moving closer to having direct talks with North Korea about its nuclear-weapons program.

July 27th, 2009 Clinton opens high-level talks with ChineseWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has opened talks with high-level Chinese officials, hailing an opportunity for better relations and saying the two countries share common interests and mutual threats. Kicking off a new dialogue with Beijing, Clinton said that the two "are laying brick by brick the foundation of a stronger relationship." She said it was time to move from "a multipolar world to a multipartner world." The talks will include discussions of the global economic slide, climate change and commercial relationships.

July 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Iran and North Korea over developing nuclear arms. Speaking in Thailand, Clinton said that if Iran developed nuclear weapons, the US would extend a "defence umbrella" over Arab allies that would make it "unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer," Clinton said.

May 8th, 2009 Lavrov, Clinton looking past differencesWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov say that their nations' recent differences over Georgia will not stand in the way of arms control negotiations. In a cordial appearance Thursday, both expressed optimism that disagreements that have roiled relations in recent years are easing.

May 8th, 2009 Obama, Russia looking past their differencesWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, after meeting with a top Russian official on Thursday, said he thinks the United States and Russia can narrow their differences over nuclear weapons, the Middle East and several other issues. Obama met at the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

May 8th, 2009 Russia, US strike conciliatory tones after talksWASHINGTON — Russia was sounding conciliatory during a Washington visit as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the Obama administration for what he called its pragmatic approach to relations. President Barack Obama also spoke encouragingly of signs that ties were warming, after he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Lavrov.

May 6th, 2009 Clinton kicks off Afghan-Pakistan talksWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is kicking off two days of Obama administration talks with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan to prod them to step up efforts against the Taliban and other extremists. Clinton is meeting separately and together at the State Department with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and then Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (AH'-seef ah-LEE' zahr-DAH'-ree).

April 28th, 2009 LUXEMBOURG - Russia would like to believe European Union assurances that the bloc is not trying to create a sphere of influence in the former USSR, but the EU has not yet been convincing enough, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. 'We would like very much to believe' that the EU's planned Eastern Partnership with six former-Soviet states is not aimed at encircling Russia, Lavrov said after talks with EU diplomats in Luxembourg.

April 25th, 2009 Clinton hopes to resume nuclear talks with NKoreaBAGHDAD — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington hopes to resume talks with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions.

April 23rd, 2009 Russian FM begins NKorea visit amid atomic tensionSEOUL, South Korea — Russia's top diplomat arrived in North Korea on Thursday on a trip that could include a meeting with leader Kim Jong Il amid tensions over Pyongyang's moves to restart its nuclear program. The two-day visit by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes after Pyongyang expelled all international monitors of its plutonium-producing facilities, vowed to restart them and quit six-nation disarmament talks last week.

April 23rd, 2009 Report: Lavrov to meet Clinton in Washington May 7MOSCOW — A Russian news agency says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Washington next month for talks on nuclear nonproliferation with U.S. counterpart Hillary Rodham Clinton.

March 7th, 2009 BRUSSELS - Russia could join a controversial US plan to deploy missile-defence systems in Europe which has provoked outrage in Moscow, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday just hours before a meeting with her Russian counterpart. 'We believe that Russia and the US have the opportunity to cooperate on missile defence - on joint research, joint development, and even eventually, assuming we can reach such an agreement, joint deployment,' Clinton said after talks with European Union (EU) officials in Brussels.

March 7th, 2009 GENEVA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a symbolic 'reboot' to improve relations between the two countries when they met in Geneva Friday. As a symbolic start to the process, Clinton brought to the meeting a yellow box with a large red 'reset' button, which she asked Lavrov to push with her.

February 9th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia was ready to hold talks with the new US administration on cuts in strategic offensive weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. 'We are ready for talks, which will allow us to preserve the mechanism of limitations and reductions of strategic offensive weapons and we are glad that the new US administration is paying priority attention to this subject,' Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's Vesti-24 TV news channel.