OSLO. Sept 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has shortened his stay in the United States and will return to Moscow on September 25 rather than on September 29 as originally planned.
Ivanov will make stopovers in Oslo, where he will meet with his Norwegian counterpart Thorbjorn Jagland, and in New York before landing in Washington on Tuesday.
Meetings with President George W. Bush and his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell, first one-on-one and then with delegations, are scheduled for Wednesday.
The four-hour meeting with Powell will include a working breakfast and a joint 30-minute press conference.
Ivanov will also meet with congressional majority and minority leaders later in the day.
He will head to New York Wednesday evening in order to attend the UN General Assembly session.
The program of Ivanov's stay in New York has not been finalised, a Russian Foreign Ministry official told Interfax. He will fly from New York to Moscow late on September 24.