Kremlin Disputes Rice's Claim on Us Nuclear Inspections

Condoleezza Rice's first trip to Moscow as US secretary of state ended amid disagreement last night when the Kremlin contradicted her claim that Russia was considering letting American inspectors check its nuclear sites.

The visit, which had been intended to smooth the way for a meeting between presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin next month, lasted less than 24 hours. Yet it exposed their differences on issues ranging from arms control to press freedom.

Ms Rice told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that she had "achieved an improvement of our access to [Russia's nuclear facilities]" during a dinner on Tuesday night with the Russian defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, who is a confidant of Mr Putin.

Washington fears that Russia's ageing nuclear stockpiles may fall into terrorists' hands, and wants its experts to inspect the security of storage sites.

Ms Rice added: "I don't consider the inspections that have to happen as a matter of sovereignty. This is a problem of cooperation ... no one wants the materials to get into the hands of bad people."

She said she hoped a meeting scheduled for May 9, to celebrate 60 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, would "bring progress on this issue".

Mr Ivanov contradicted the claim, telling the Interfax news agency: "Visits by American inspectors to nuclear installations in Russia are not under consideration."

While Ms Rice said Russian-American relations were "very warm", she tackled sensitive topics. She intended to "follow" the sentencing of the oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky over fraud and tax evasion - a case critics claim is politically driven - to see what it said "about the rule of law in Russia".

And she repeated concerns about Russia's apparent retreat from democracy.

"It is necessary to have more independent mass media in Russia. For Russia to achieve its complete potential there must be democratic development and there should not be such a big concentration of power with the president."

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said later: "As much as the US are interested in a strong and democratic Russia, we are interested in a strong and democratic [US] that performs responsibly on the world stage."