U.S. missile plan presented to Russia

MOSCOW, March 19 (UPI) -- U.S. officials have delivered new proposals for a European missile shield to their Russian counterparts, a Russian deputy foreign minister said Wednesday.

"The proposals have been received and are being studied," Sergei Kislyak told Novosti, the Russian information agency.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are in Moscow for "2+2" talks with their Russian counterparts, as well as meetings with other Russian officials.

Rice and Gates offered proposals on the plan -- which calls for a radar installation in the Czech Republic and a missile base in Poland -- to help ease Moscow's concern that the plan is a security threat to Russia.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the talks Tuesday showed that the sides' positions were unchanged, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the new proposals advanced by Rice and Gates "useful and important," Novosti said.