US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton met Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak for talks focusing on the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the potential threats posed by North Korea and Iraq.

He was due to brief reporters on his visit later Thursday.

Bolton regularly visits Russia and has become one of Washington's top pointmen -- a hawk who is not always well received here -- on issues dealing with Moscow's potential military trade and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Bolton was one of the key figures who helped negotiate a May 2002 arms reduction treaty signed by Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in Moscow that was meant to reduce the two sides' nuclear arsenals by two-thirds over 10 years.

But that treaty -- to Russia's immense displeasure -- now appears to have been dropped as Washington used a legal loophole to ignore the deal.

The United States has since aired plans to develop miniature nuclear weapons, a military potential that Russia does not yet have and which Washington argues are needed for regional conflicts in the post Cold War era.

With these uneasy military relations, Bolton met Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak to discuss non-proliferation issues and potential cooperation in Iraq and North Korea.

"The United States plans to focus on issues of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and all issues linked to this," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Bolton as saying before the meeting.

Iran has remained a sore point in Russia-US relations despite a new wave of cooperation following the September 11 attacks.

Russia's Bushehr nuclear reactor project is frowned on by Washington amid fears that the Islamic state is using it as a guise to develop a weapons program.

Moscow has since appeared to have put the breaks on the project and delivered strong pressure on Iran to submit to open United Nations inspections of its potential military sites.

Iran's first nuclear reactor is now not due to become operational until 2005 -- years after schedule -- in a deal worth nearly one billion dollars (1.2 billion euros) to Moscow that Russian authorities appear to have used several strategies to push back in a bid to appease US concerns.

Under US and Israeli pressure, Moscow is demanding that all of the fuel provided for the reactor is sent back to Russia, and has called for a guarantee that the fuel is delivered safely across Iran.

It is now negotiating a new treaty on the fuel's safe return.

Meanwhile, Tehran has agreed to the UN weapons inspections, but progress has been slow. UN sources said they will be unable to complete the inspection by June as had been planned because Iranian officials were not cooperating.

Officials said Bolton would also discuss North Korea and Iraq during his stay, although there were no details about those negotiations.

Russia has attempted to help mediate the nuclear dispute between Pyongyang and Washington, even though its influence over North Korea has waned since the Soviet era.

Moscow, a staunch opponent of the US-led war, is also determined not to send any troops into Iraq, and is now negotiating with Washington over a new UN Security Council resolution over the transition of power over to Baghdad.

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