"The new plan which the Obama administration has now presented... creates conditions for dialogue that are not bad," Lavrov said during a visit to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

"According to our initial supposition, it does not create those risks which were discussed when the third position district was being planned," he said.

Russian officials used the term "third position district" to describe the plans of former US president George W. Bush to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic.

The other two "position districts" were in the US states of Alaska and California. The system was designed to protect the United States against long-range missile strikes from "rogue states" such as Iran.

Moscow fiercely opposed the Bush plan to deploy missile defence facilities in eastern Europe, saying they threatened Russia's nuclear deterrent.

Last month the Obama administration said it was dropping the eastern Europe plan in favour of a more mobile, sea-based system that would focus on the threat of short- and medium-range missiles from Iran.

Russian officials welcomed the shift but said the new configuration would require further study, and Moscow's ambassador to NATO called for guarantees that the new sea-based system would not be deployed near the Russian coast.

Lavrov said the United States and Russia would soon hold "consultations" so that Moscow could better understand the new configuration.

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