Progress in U.S.-Russia Talks

The United States and Russia said Tuesday that they had agreed to negotiate a “strategic framework” document that would formally put in writing the basic elements of their relationship, but the two nations failed to end the deep division over American plans to base missile defenses in Europe.

Conciliation was the tone set by the American secretaries of state and defense and their Russian counterparts at the end of two days of negotiations here. Tangible results remained elusive as both sides agreed mostly that it would be important to keep talking into the next administrations in both countries as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia leaves office, followed by President Bush.

“We have agreed that there should be a joint strategic framework document for the presidents to be able to record all of the elements of the U.S.-Russian relationship as we go forward,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced.

She said the negotiations had brought consensus on which aspects of the relationship would be in the document; the dozen or so issues include trade, counterterrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Her counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, said the talks also covered “some contentious issues where we have not reached agreement as of now,” in particular, missile defense and the exact legal form of a future bilateral limit on nuclear weapons.

Mr. Lavrov acknowledged that Ms. Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had made a significant effort in the talks to “try to allay our concerns” over American plans to put a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland.

The Americans have said the system is intended to thwart missile attacks launched from Iran. Russia has argued that the system could threaten its own missiles as well. Mr. Gates said the system would not pose any threat to the Russian arsenal.

“We had the opportunity today to elaborate on a number of confidence-building measures and measures for transparency, to provide assurance to the Russians that our missile sites and radars do not constitute a threat to Russia,” Mr. Gates said.

Among the offers, he added, was one to allow Russian inspectors into American missile defense sites, though that access would require approval from the Czech and Polish governments as well.

“I think both President Putin and our Russian colleagues today found these ideas useful and important,” Mr. Gates said. “They will be studying them further.”

A senior American official, speaking on traditional diplomatic ground rules of anonymity to describe the closed-door negotiations, said the Russian government had come to the realization that the United States had no intention of dropping its plans for missile defense bases in Eastern Europe.

“The Russians are beginning to see that this is going to happen,” the official said. The question facing the Russian government now, the official said, is how to respond in a way that does not immediately and publicly validate the American position while striving to defend principles of Moscow’s foreign and military policy.

Acknowledging that some of the Bush administration’s proposals on missile defense had not been clearly stated or perhaps had been misunderstood by the Russians, senior American officials agreed to work through Tuesday night putting the entire set of ideas into writing for study by Moscow. That effort is in part a repeat of what was done when Ms. Rice and Mr. Gates visited Moscow in October to discuss missile defense.

The most negative assessment of the impasse on missile defense issues came from the Russian defense minister, Anatoly E. Serdyukov, who said, “In principle, our positions have not changed.”

The two sides also failed to reach a deal — but agreed to continue talks — on what sort of pact might set limits on their nuclear arsenals after current treaties expire.