The pair met for 30 minutes in a Brussels hotel, at the end of day-long talks between NATO and EU foreign ministers focussing on post-war Iraq.

Afterwards neither man commented. But before the meeting Ivanov reiterated Moscow's support for a central post-war role for the UN.

"We are certain, it was our opinion before the war and it remains so, that the solution to the situation and the Iraqi problem must be found under the auspices of the UN," he said.

"How that will be done, in what way, and in what format is a question to which we must find an answer... The main thing is to end the war and to resume the political process in Iraq," he said.

Ivanov, whose country has described the Iraq war as the most serious international crisis since the end of the Cold War, said the only way to resolve differences was by dialogue.

"The only way to overcome our differences is to meet each other. In the long term we want stable and predictable relations with the United States," he added.

"Our disagreements on Iraq and other subjects must be resolved by this dialogue."

SPACE.WIRE