Russia and the United States should resolve all international political issues through dialogue, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Thursday.

"We should resolve all problems constructively. Our contacts are in fact quite frequent and concern various issues of global and regional policy," Ivanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Ivanov, fresh from being promoted from the post of defense minister, said he had recently met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and they "had a very interesting discussion on global security and regional problems, including Iran."

Hadley was visiting Moscow as part of his European tour, which observers have noticed came at a time Russian leaders have strongly criticized the Bush administration for its unilateralism in dealing with international affairs.

President Vladimir Putin slammed "almost uncontained" use of force by the United States at a high-profile security conference in Germany earlier this month.

"We are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations ... the United States has overstepped its national borders in every way," Putin said at the Munich Security Conference.

Hadley said the U.S. authorities do not view Putin's speech as "an invitation to confrontation."

"There are obviously areas where we continue to have disagreements. And there are obviously frustrations in relationships on both sides from time to time. This is very normal for relationships among powerful countries," he said.

Russia and the United States cooperate in a wide variety of issues and have common interests, he said.

Hadley restated the U.S. assurance that the missile defense system the United States plans to build in eastern Europe is not targeted at Russia, which has strongly criticized the plan.

"The missile defense system we are developing is a very limited system in its capabilities and in its size," Hadley told Interfax.

"We have briefed Russian officials at various times and at various levels. And we have tried to assure them that the system both is not directed at Russia, is a system of limited capability, and it poses no threat to the Russian strategic deterrent," he said.

The United States wants to deploy a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a U.S.-built shield against ballistic missiles.

Source: Xinhua