Russian minister talks about nukes during U.S. visit

WASHINGTON -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov carried the Kremlin's concerns about potential targeting of Russia with nuclear weapons to the Pentagon on Tuesday but skirted the issue in a meeting with President Bush.

Instead, Ivanov said, he talked to the president about plans for U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons reductions and countering terrorism.

Ivanov called the White House meeting "rather warm and productive" and said he did not take up with Bush a new Pentagon study that suggests nuclear weapons could be targeted on Russia and six other nations.

The Kremlin has demanded an explanation, and Ivanov is pursuing the issue in two days of talks with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"The issue of the new U.S. nuclear posture has not been discussed with the president," Ivanov said. "But we had a very long and very detailed discussion this morning with Secretary Rumsfeld."