NEW YORK -- Russia could agree to a new nuclear arms pact that would allow the United States to store some decommissioned weapons for possible future use instead of destroying them, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Ivanov's comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" suggested a softening of the Kremlin position on what Russia officials have called the main sticking point in progress toward a deal on nuclear arms cuts that both sides hope to secure in time for President Bush's visit to Russia in May.

Bush agreed last December to reduce U.S. arsenals of long-range nuclear warheads to 1,700 from 2,200, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia could go as low as 1,500.

But Russian officials have expressed strong concern over U.S. plans to store decommissioned weapons instead of destroying them, allowing them to be used in the future -- including against Russia if relations take a turn for the worse.

Negotiating the details

In the interview, conducted in Washington last week after he met with Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ivanov said that a portion of the weapons decommissioned under the pact could be stored and that the details are "negotiable."

"Part of it may be stored. I don't argue with that principle, well, out of hand," he said. "But the devil is in the details: how much, how long and how quickly it might go back to operational, and, well, jeopardize strategic stability."

The leak of a classified Pentagon nuclear planning document revealing a contingency plan that could allow U.S. nuclear strikes against Russia prompted angry reactions from some Russian officials and threatened to overshadow Ivanov's U.S. visit.

But he said Friday that Russia was satisfied with U.S. explanations.

He was upbeat about his U.S. trip in the interview broadcast Sunday, praising Bush as a "visionary man" and suggesting Bush and Putin are pursuing closer ties despite opposition from some within their own countries.

Bush "understands that the times of the Cold War is definitely over, and that both leaders should be bold and imaginative enough to try and maybe overpower the bureaucracy of both countries, which sometimes has its own vested interest."

Keeping Iraq in mind

Turning to Iraq, Ivanov said Russia believes that Saddam Hussein's regime may be developing weapons of mass destruction but that no action beyond existing U.N. sanctions should be taken unless that is proven.

"We calculate that there might be a problem in Iraq with weapons of mass destruction," he said.

"That's why we support strongly the idea that a huge team of international monitors should go to Iraq ... investigate whatever they wish (and) finally have a clear answer, yes or no."

Under U.N. Security Council resolutions, sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify it is not pursuing weapons of mass destruction. Inspectors left in 1998 and Iraq has barred them from returning.

Russia has close ties with Iraq, which owes it billions of dollars, and has been pressing Baghdad to accept inspectors as a condition for lifting the sanctions.

Asked if Moscow would support military action if the United States decided it was necessary to oust Saddam, Ivanov said only that the United States has not informed Russia of such a decision.

But he said, "The problem is not with Saddam Hussein. The problem is with weapons of mass destruction."