However Russia and the United States were unable to bridge their differences over the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, Powell confirming the United States intended to press ahead with construction of a missile defense shield which the nuclear pact bans.

The two sides reported their best progress over Moscow's demands to put in writing an earlier promise by US President George W. Bush to slash the size of the US long-range nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by 2007.

"Both of our presidents have urged us... to try to get the work done in time for when the two presidents meet in Moscow next year," Powell told reporters after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Powell said that a new deal which was discussed between Putin and Bush during their summit in Washington and Texas last month could be put in writing "in a way that preserves the transparency and control agreements that exist in current treaties.

"Both of us recognize the need for codification. It might be in the form of a treaty or something else," Powell told journalists here.

Powell said Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had provided him with a specific figure to which the Russian side was willing to cut its arsenal in the coming years and that he was taking that figure back to Bush in Washington.

The existing START II treaty envisages a reduction in the number of warheads to 3,500 by 2007.

Conservatives in the White House had earlier resisted Russian demands to put the arms cut treaty in writing.

Moscow has expressed concern that a unilateral US approach to nuclear disarmament would mean that Russia would have no means of verifying the US cuts.

The Kremlin is also concerned that a future US administration would not be obliged to follow through with Bush's promise unless the treaty is put in writing.

Speaking after talks at the Kremlin on Monday, Ivanov said Russia believed it necessary "through specific steps" to formalize the result of the Texas summit.

"First of all it is necessary to formalize the cut in levels through legal means. We think that it would be correct to set ourselves the task of formalizing this relationship by the US president's visit to Russia scheduled for the middle of next year," Ivanov said.

The Russian foreign minister said that the agreement itself was more important than its actual framework, adding: "The most important thing is that both sides agree it must be put forward in agreement form. It does not matter what it is called."

But both Powell and Ivanov said that Russia and the United States remained at odds over the ABM treaty.

"The positions of the two sides remain unchanged," Ivanov told reporters at the Kremlin, while Powell acknowledged that "we still have a disagreement on the subject of anti-missile defense and the ABM treaty."

Powell, who greeted Ivanov as "my friend Igor" ahead of their 16th meeting this year, was making his first visit to Russia as head of US foreign policy, although he said he had visited many times during the Cold War era as a soldier.

He opened the day Monday by holding closed-door talks with Putin, who noted that the United States and Russia were cooperating "very effectively" in Afghanistan to help deliver aid supplies.

Putin thanked the United States for helping to carry out the humanitarian operation in Afghanistan, adding: "Above all, this concerns the efforts at Bagram airport (near Kabul), where our military specialists and yours have been working together very effectively."

Powell later flew on to Berlin, and he is also due to visit Paris and London before returning to Washington. On the issue of missile defense Russia and the US remain at odds over the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. "The positions of the two sides remain unchanged," Ivanov told reporters after talks at the Kremlin.

Powell said that "we still have a disagreement on the subject of anti-missile defence and the ABM treaty."

He added: "In due course, we have said it for a long time, we must find a way out of the constraints of the ABM treaty."

The Cold War-era ABM treaty bars the United States and Russia from unilaterally developing missile defence shields under the premise that the threat of "mutually assured destruction" will prevent nuclear war.

However, the United States argues that the treaty is outdated and no longer takes into account post-Cold War considerations like the threat of a limited missile attack from "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iran.

Moscow responded to Washington's successful fifth test of its missile defense shield plans last week by again referring to the ABM treaty as a "cornerstone" of global stability.

But Putin and his aides have softened their firm opposition to the US missile defence shield, hinting that the treaty could be modified to allow the 60-billion-dollar plan to go ahead if it was linked to strategic arms reduction.

Putin and US President George W. Bush agreed to cut the number of nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 at their Texas summit last month.

Moscow officials then said in private that they expected the United States to make some concessions on the treaty in return, and came away disappointed when no such offer was forthcoming at the summit.

The existing START II treaty envisages a reduction in the number of warheads to 3,500 by 2007, but US President George W. Bush and Putin agreed at the Texas summit last month to reduce their arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads.

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