MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held a telephone conversation on Thursday, in which they stressed "the importance of developing a legally binding agreement on radical reduction of the strategic offensive arms of the two countries by the upcoming Russian-U.S. summit," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Ivanov and Powell "have discussed issues related to preparations for the U.S. president's official visit to Russia, which is scheduled for the first half of this year," the Foreign Ministry release reads.
Ivanov and Powell also discussed a number of international and regional problems.
"They agreed that it is necessary to work more actively on improving the mechanisms of Russia-NATO relations, including in the "20" format, based on the agreements reached by the presidents of Russia and the U.S.," the release reads.