Russia says alleged spying case was 2nd this year

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian security services operative — his features bathed in shadows — went on state television Wednesday to claim that the U.S. diplomat who was ordered out of the country was the second American expelled this year over spying allegations.

The anonymous operative said the CIA had failed to halt this "disturbing activity" despite Moscow asking it to do so.

The TV report came one day after Russia ordered Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy, to leave the country after the Federal Security Service claimed to have caught him red-handed trying to recruit a Russian agent in Moscow. The agency, known by the initials FSB, alleged that Fogle worked for the CIA.

State TV channels showed a man identified as an FSB agent saying that another American was told to leave in January in "another case of recruitment." The anonymous speaker, whose identity as an FSB operative could not be confirmed by The Associated Press, did not give the name of the expelled American.

Various Russian TV networks gave different names for the American, and the FSB refused to clarify the name to The Associated Press. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell declined to comment.

The purported FSB agent said that in the January case his agency had decided not to publicize the expulsion, unlike the Fogle case, which has been top news in the Russian media for two days. He said the FSB asked its U.S. counterparts after the January case to halt this "disturbing activity."

The attention given to the Fogle case contrasts with recent moves by Washington and Moscow to develop closer cooperation on counterterrorism in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15.

The bombing suspects — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his elder brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a manhunt — have roots in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Tamerlan spent six months last year in Dagestan, now the center of an Islamic insurgency; U.S. investigators have been working with the Russians to try to determine whether he had established any contacts with militants in Dagestan.

Russian officials have played the contrast with both annoyance and magnanimity.

"To put it mildly, it is surprising that this extremely crude, clumsy attempt at recruitment took place in a situation where both President Obama and President Putin have clearly stated the importance of more active cooperation and contacts between the speial services of the two countries," Putin's foreign affairs aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying Wednesday by Russian news agencies.

But Ushakov said counterterrorism cooperation would be among the issues addressed by Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev on a visit to Washington next week, in which he is to present a letter with Putin's response to an Obama message conveyed last month. The letter also is to address missile-defense, a long-standing point of tension between Russia and the United States.

Ushakov said it was unclear if the letter borne by Patrushev would take up the Fogle case.

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul was summoned Wednesday to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said it handed him a formal protest over the incident. McFaul spent about a half-hour at the ministry and left without speaking to journalists.

Ventrell, speaking in Washington, declined to provide any further information on Fogle, beyond confirming that he was named persona non grata by the Russians. He said McFaul met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin Ryabkov, but wouldn't say what they spoke about.

McFaul has had a difficult time in Moscow since he took up his post in January 2012. He provoked the ire of Russian officials when one of his first acts was to invite a group of opposition activists and rights advocates to the U.S. Embassy.

Fogle, 29, appeared to be the first American diplomat in Moscow publicly accused of spying in about a decade. State TV showed him being detained briefly, displaying items it said he was carrying, including two wigs, technical gear, a large sum of money and a letter offering millions of dollars for cooperation.

Little is known publicly about Fogle's duties and activities in Russia. The State Department confirmed that Fogle worked as an embassy employee but would give no details about his job. The CIA declined comment.

Fogle is from Clayton, Missouri, near St. Louis. His father is an attorney for the Thompson Coburn firm, one of the largest in St. Louis.

Fogle's family declined interview requests made through a spokeswoman for the law firm.

Phil Harris, 27, of St. Louis, said he has known Fogle for about five years. He described him as a "friend of a friend," but said they had hung out together perhaps five times, most recently when they played poker and went shooting together in December.

"My first reaction was shock," Harris said of learning of Fogle's alleged involvement in spying. "He just seemed like a very normal person to me. It never seemed like he was some kind of secret agent guy."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has ordered Fogle to leave Russia immediately but his exact whereabouts were not known Wednesday. Ventrell wouldn't say if Fogle has left, citing only the "potential for reciprocity."

Despite the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States still maintain active espionage operations against each other. Last year, several Russians were convicted in separate cases of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.

___

Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Bradley Klapper in Washington and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

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A look at how Russia, US still spy on each other

The Cold War is long over, but espionage is forever. Russian spies still operate in the U.S. and American ones in Russia. On Tuesday, Russia's security services said they had caught a U.S. diplomat whom they claim is a CIA official trying to recruit a Russian agent.

Here's some other cases of apparent spying between the old rivals:

THE ANNA CHAPMAN RING

These Russian spies lived in suburban U.S. homes and worked at jobs like real estate brokers or travel agents, quietly inserting themselves into American life and trying to penetrate U.S. policy circles. Court papers said Chapman and nine others assumed the identities of people who had died, swapped bags in passing at train stations and communicated with invisible ink and coded radio transmissions. After their 2010 arrests, all 10 pleaded guilty to spying charges. An 11th man was arrested in Cyprus but jumped bail.

Dubbed a femme fatale, the red-headed Chapman, 28 at the time, became the most notorious member of the ring, partially because of glamorous photos she posted on social networking sites of her international travels. She has stayed in the limelight since her deportation to Russia, hosting a reality TV show, modeling lingerie and becoming the face of a Moscow bank.

SERGEI TRETYAKOV

Tretyakov once called the United Nations a nest of spies. And he would know. For five years in the 1990s, Tretyakov worked at Russia's diplomatic mission at the U.N. — recruiting and running spies. He also found Canada to be fertile ground for finding people willing to rat on the U.S.

Tretyakov claimed his agents helped Russia siphon nearly $500 million from the U.N. oil-for-food sanctions program for Iraq. Then in 2000, he defected to the U.S. It's thought that Tretyakov handed significant information over to Washington, although he never specifically confirmed that he became a double agent. He died in Florida in 2010 at age 53 of a heart attack.

STANISLAV BORISOVICH GUSEV

Gusev, a Russian diplomat, planted a bug inside the State Department in Washington, D.C., and then hung around on a bench outside the building or in his car to listen, according to U.S. authorities. Agents became suspicious when they spotted him feeding a parking meter outside State Department headquarters without ever going inside. He was arrested in 1999 and expelled from the U.S.

ALDRICH AMES

As a CIA officer in Turkey, Ames worked to turn Russians against their government. But in 1985, he switched sides himself, offering his services to the Soviets. He continued working for the Russians after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. He communicated with his handlers by leaving chalk marks on a Washington, D.C., mailbox. He eventually passed along to Moscow dozens of names of Russians who were spying for the U.S. The Soviet Union executed 10 of them. The FBI arrested Ames in 1994 and he pleaded guilty to spying that same year.

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US discussing giving Russia missile defense data

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says that the Obama administration has discussed declassifying key data on U.S. missile defense in order to provide it to Russia.

The administration has been exploring how to ease Russian concerns that the U.S. missile defense shield is aimed at countering Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Arms control advocates have suggested that revealing missile interceptor capabilities could provide a breakthrough on an issue that Russia says stands in the way of nuclear arms reductions. But doing so would provoke charges by Republicans that the administration is compromising national security to appease Moscow.

Under questioning by a Republican lawmaker Wednesday, Missile Defense Agency director Vice Adm. James Syring said that he has discussed declassifying data, including the speed of interceptors, with senior Defense Department officials.

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U.S., Russia seek new Syria peace talks; rebels skeptical

By Arshad Mohammed and Erika Solomon

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia and the United States agreed to seek new peace talks with both sides to end Syria's civil war, but opposition leaders were skeptical on Wednesday of an initiative they fear might let President Bashar al-Assad to cling to power.

Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces renewed calls to arm the rebels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to try to arrange a conference as early as this month.

An East-West disagreement that has seen some of the frostiest exchanges between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War has deadlocked U.N. efforts to settle the Syrian conflict for two years, so any rapprochement could bring an international common front closer than it has been for many months.

Israeli air strikes, reports of the use of chemical weapons and the increasing prominence of al Qaeda-linked militants among the rebels have all added to international urgency for an end to a war that has killed more than 70,000 people.

But with Syria's factional and sectarian hatreds more entrenched than ever, it is far from clear the warring parties are ready to negotiate with each other. Most opposition figures have ruled out talks unless Assad and his inner circle are excluded from any future transitional government.

"No official position has been decided but I believe the opposition would find it impossible to hold talks over a government that still had Assad at its head," said Samir Nashar, a member of the opposition's umbrella National Coalition body.

"Before making any decisions we need to know what Assad's role would be. That point has been left vague, we believe intentionally so, in order to try to drag the opposition into talks before a decision on that is made."

In the past, the United States has backed opposition demands that Assad be excluded from any future government, while Russia has said that must be for Syrians to decide, a formula the opposition believes could be used to keep Assad in power.

Opposition members said they were concerned by comments from Kerry in Moscow, echoing Russia, that the decision on who takes part in a transitional government should be left to Syrians.

"Syrians are worried that the United States is advancing its own interests with Russia using the blood and suffering of the Syrian people," said National Coalition member Ahmed Ramadan.

"We are in touch with the U.S. side and need to be assured that there is no change in its position on Assad."

Inside the country, where rebel groups are numerous and have disparate views, a military commander in the north, Abdeljabbar al-Oqaidi, told Reuters he would want to know details of the U.S.-Russian plan before taking a view. "But," he added, "if the regime were present, I do not believe we would want to attend."

There was no immediate response from the Syrian government, which has offered reforms but dismisses those fighting it as terrorists and puppets of outside powers - the West, Turkey and Arab states opposed to Assad's ally Iran. Speaking before the announcement in Moscow, Assad sounded his usual defiant tone.

"The recent Israeli aggressions expose the extent of the complicity between the Israeli occupier, regional countries and the West in promoting the current events in Syria," he was quoted as saying by a Lebanese televisions station.

"The Syrian people and their heroic army ... are capable of confronting this Israeli adventure, which represents one of the faces of terrorism that is targeting Syria every day."

COMMON INTERESTS

Alarmed at the prospect of the conflict spilling across a volatile region central to global energy supplies and transit routes, the major powers have, as Kerry told Putin on Tuesday, "very significant common interests" in pushing for a settlement.

"The alternative," Kerry later told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, "is that Syria heads closer to an abyss, if not over the abyss and into chaos."

Both sides fear a failed state in Syria could provide a base for hostile militants willing to strike around the world.

Last June, at a conference in Geneva, Washington and Moscow agreed on the need for a transitional government in Syria but left open the question of whether Assad would be excluded. Diplomacy has foundered since then, and the mediator of the Geneva conference, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, quit in despair, saying differences among powers were too wide.

Rejecting a characterization of Moscow as the protector of Assad, to whom it still provides arms, Lavrov said Russia was not concerned by the fate of "certain" individuals.

"The task now is to convince the government and all the opposition groups ... to sit at the negotiating table," he said.

Kerry said the conference should be held "as soon as is practical - possibly and hopefully by the end of the month". Neither he nor Lavrov said where it might take place.

Russia, backed by China, has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions hostile to Assad. Alarmed at Western powers' use of a U.N. mandate to oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Moscow and Beijing are wary of such interference in their own affairs.

ASSAD DEFIANT

Recent developments have focused minds on the risks of wider war in the Middle East.

The White House said last month that Assad's troops had probably used chemical weapons - which Obama has called a "red line" that would mandate a strong, if unspecified, response. The Syrian government and the rebels have each accused the other of using poison gas, a charge both sides deny.

Islamist fighters have pledged allegiance to al Qaeda, highlighting the risk to the West that a poorly managed change of leadership in Syria could bring hostile militants to power.

And Israeli air strikes in recent days - which Israeli officials said hit Iranian arms headed for Assad and Tehran's Lebanese allies Hezbollah - underlined the risk of escalation and cross-border conflict in the heart of the Middle East.

The violence has inflamed a confrontation between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in the Middle East, with Shi'ite Iran supporting Assad and Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia backing the rebels.

Tehran warned of unforeseeable consequences if Assad were toppled and said only a political settlement would avert a regional conflagration.

"God forbid, if there is any vacuum in Syria, these negative consequences will affect all countries," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in Jordan. "No one knows what will happen."

COOPERATION

Diplomatic sources in Moscow made clear the latest push for peace was being driven by growing alarm following the Israeli air raids, the possibility of foreign arms pouring into Syria and the possible use of chemical weapons.

Moscow and Washington have also signaled they want to improve cooperation on security matters since the Boston Marathon bombings, which U.S. officials suspect was carried out by ethnic Chechens who had lived in Russia. U.S. officials said FBI chief Robert Mueller had been in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the bombings, but gave no details.

In a further sign of Washington's efforts to improve ties with Russia, Kerry avoided any sharp public criticism of Moscow's human rights record when he met civil rights activists in the Russian capital on Wednesday before his departure.

In Syria itself, Internet connections with the outside world were cut off on Tuesday, according to data from Google Inc and other global Internet companies.

Google's Transparency Report pages showed traffic to Google services pages from Syria suddenly stopping shortly before 10 p.m. Damascus time (1900 GMT).

Obama has shown little desire to embroil U.S. forces in Syria after winding down engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has rejected criticism he might back out of a commitment to act if Assad crossed the "red line" of using chemical weapons.

On Tuesday, he pointed to the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Gaddafi to say "we typically follow through on our commitments".

Obama has said U.S. intelligence agencies believe Assad's forces probably used chemical arms but that the evidence is not entirely conclusive. Syria is not part of an international treaty that bans poison gas but has said it would never use chemical weapons in an internal conflict.

The chaos in Syria, where a fifth of the 25 million population has been driven from their homes, was underlined by the latest incident of rebels taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage on the ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the incident and called for the four Filipinos' immediate release. They were detained as they patrolled close to an area where 21 Filipino observers were held for three days in March.

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said the peacekeepers were seized for their own safety during clashes in the area.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Arshad Mohammed, Timothy Heritage, Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Alastair Macdonald, Timothy Heritage and Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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Russia, U.S. seek to convene Syria peace conference

By Thomas Grove and Erika Solomon

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia and the United States have agreed to bury their differences over Syria and hold urgent international talks to find a settlement that can end the carnage of a civil war that is inflaming the entire Middle East.

Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces new calls to arm the rebels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to try to arrange a conference as early as this month involving both President Bashar al-Assad's government and his opponents.

East-West disagreement that has seen some of the frostiest exchanges between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War has deadlocked U.N. efforts to settle the Syrian conflict for two years, so any rapprochement could bring an international common front closer than it has been for many months.

But with Syria's factional and sectarian hatreds more entrenched than ever after 70,000 deaths, it is far from clear the warring parties are ready to negotiate. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government, which has offered reforms but dismisses those fighting it as "terrorists".

The late hour of the announcement in Moscow - Kerry was kept waiting for three hours by President Vladimir Putin - also meant leaders of the Western-backed opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Coalition were not available for comment. Many on the body have insisted Assad's exit is a condition for talks.

Inside the country, where rebel groups are numerous and have disparate views, a military commander in the north, Abdeljabbar al-Oqaidi, told Reuters he would want to know details of the U.S.-Russian plan before taking a view: "But," he added, "if the regime were present, I do not believe we would want to attend."

Alarmed at the prospect of the conflict spilling across an already volatile and economically important region, however, the major powers have, as Kerry told Putin late on Tuesday, "very significant common interests" in pushing for a settlement.

"The alternative," Kerry later told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, "is that Syria heads closer to an abyss, if not over the abyss and into chaos.

"The alternative is that the humanitarian crisis will grow. The alternative is that there may be even a break-up of Syria."

GENEVA AGREEMENT

A year ago, at a conference in Geneva in June, Washington and Moscow agreed on the need for a transitional government in Syria but left open the question of what would happen to Assad, whose departure Obama has called for but which Russia, accusing the West of meddling, says should be a matter for Syrians only.

Rejecting a characterization of Moscow as the protector of Assad, to whose army it has been a major arms suppliers since the days of his father's rule, Lavrov insisted Russia was not concerned by the fate "certain" individuals.

"The task now is to convince the government and all the opposition groups ... to sit at the negotiating table," he said.

Kerry said the conference should be held "as soon as is practical - possibly and hopefully by the end of the month". Neither he nor Lavrov said where it might take place.

Kerry said there would be "a growing crescendo of nations who will want to push for a peaceful resolution, rather than the chaos that comes with the break up of a country".

Although the United States has said Assad should not be part of a transitional government in Syria, Kerry said the decision on who takes part in it should be left to the Syrians.

Lavrov said the aim would be "to persuade the government and the opposition together ... to fully implement the Geneva communiqué" on creating a transitional government.

Russia, backed by China which shares its mistrust of Western enthusiasm for toppling autocrats, has refused appeals to consider sanctions on Assad, vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning his crackdown on opposition groups.

ASSAD DEFIANT

Recent developments have helped focus minds on the risks of wider war in the Middle East: intelligence reports that Assad's troops may have used chemical weapons had renewed calls for Obama to arm the rebels or even offer U.S. forces; Islamist fighters pledging allegiance to al Qaeda has highlighted how some of the rebels are also hostile to the West; and Israeli air strikes in the past few days, said to target Iranian arms headed for Lebanon's Hezbollah, have underlined the risk of escalation.

Speaking before the announcement in Moscow, Assad was quoted by a sympathetic Lebanese television channel as saying he would defy Israel, the United States and Arab powers who oppose him: "The recent Israeli aggressions expose the extent of the complicity between the Israeli occupier, regional countries and the West in promoting the current events in Syria," he said.

"The Syrian people and their heroic army ... are capable of confronting this Israeli adventure, which represents one of the faces of terrorism that is targeting Syria every day."

While showing little desire to embroil U.S. forces in Syria after winding down engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has rejected criticism that he might back out of a commitment to act if Assad crossed a "red line" of using chemical weapons.

On Tuesday, he pointed to the killing of Osama bin Laden and of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, brought down by U.S.-backed rebels, as evidence that "we typically follow through on our commitments". It is still unclear if chemical weapons were used.

The chaos in Syria, where a fifth of the 25 million population has been driven from homes, was underlined by the latest incident of rebels taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage on the ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the incident and called for the four Filipinos' immediate release. They were detained as they patrolled close to an area where 21 Filipino observers were held for three days in March.

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said they were taken in for their own safety during clashes in the area.

More widely, the violence in a religiously and ethnically diverse country at the heart of the Arab and Muslim world has inflamed a confrontation between Iran and its fellow Shi'ite allies like Hezbollah on the one hand and the Sunni Arab powers, including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, who back the Sunni rebels against Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Iran, at daggers drawn with Israel and the West over its nuclear program, warned of unforeseeable consequences if Assad were toppled and said only a political settlement to Syria's civil war would avoid a regional conflagration.

"God forbid, if there is any vacuum in Syria, these negative consequences will affect all countries," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in Jordan. "No one knows what will happen."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Arshad Mohammed, Timothy Heritage, Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Russia detains 140 suspected Islamic extremists

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police and security agents have detained 140 people at a mosque in Moscow on suspicion of involvement with Islamic extremism.

A statement from the Federal Security Agency reported by Russian news agencies said among those detained in the Friday action were 30 citizens of unspecified foreign countries.

The detentions come a week after the two suspects in the fatal Boston Marathon bombing were identified as originating from the Russian region of Chechnya and sympathizing with Islamic extremists.

There were no immediate reports of charges being filed. The security agency referred The Associated Press to a district office, where the telephone was not answered.

The reports cited the agency as saying the mosque previously has been visited by people who had been involved in preparing or carrying out terrorist attacks.

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U.S., Russia aim to reconvene stalled missile defense talks

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian and U.S. defense chiefs signaled on Monday their intention to reconvene long-stalled missile defense talks, the Pentagon said, following a change in U.S. missile defense plans for Europe that has been met cautiously by Moscow.

There have been no meetings at the deputy minister-level since 2011, when six were held, a U.S. defense official told Reuters. Talks set for 2012 were canceled because of scheduling conflicts, he said.

The Pentagon said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed a desire to reconvene the talks, and that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured him they would continue and would be carried forward by the Pentagon's policy chief, Jim Miller.

"We are very interested in further developments on the European missile defense and our minister offered to restart regular consultations on that between deputy ministers," Anatoly Antonov, a deputy of Shoigu, was quoted as saying by Russian news agency RIA.

The news came after a March 16 announcement that the United States would station 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska in response to North Korean provocations, but at the same time forgo a new type of interceptor that would have been deployed in Europe.

Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have long been at loggerheads over the shield in Europe. President Barack Obama's move in 2009 to scale down earlier, Bush-administration plans only offered a short-lived respite. Russia's main concern is that the European shield would weaken its nuclear deterrent.

Russia's point man for U.S. relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on March 21 that the Obama administration's planned changes brought a new element to the issue.

He called for further dialogue, noting Moscow still had concern that U.S. missile defenses could threaten its security.

U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO supreme allied commander Europe, noted Russia's concerns in an article published on NATO's website on Monday but said: "We strongly disagree."

"And (we) feel that the system is clearly designed to protect populations against Iran, Syria and other ballistic-missile capable nations that threaten the European continent," Stavridis wrote.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Xavier Briand)

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Russia tones down criticism of new U.S. missile plans

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia signaled on Thursday that a change in U.S. plans for a European anti-missile shield could help the two sides make progress towards resolving a dispute that has frayed their relations.

On Friday, the United States announced it would station 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska after North Korea threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and forgo a new interceptor that would have been deployed in central Europe.

Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have long been at loggerheads over the shield in Europe. President Barack Obama's move in 2009 to scale down earlier, Bush-administration plans only offered a short-lived respite. Russia's main concern is that the European shield would weaken its nuclear deterrent.

Russia's point man for U.S. relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on Thursday the planned changes brought a new element to the issue. He called for further dialogue, noting Moscow still had concern that U.S. missile defenses could threaten its security.

Ryabkov's remarks were more upbeat than Russia's initial, critical reaction to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's announcement of changes in U.S. global missile defense plans on Friday.

"There is no unequivocal answer yet to the question of what consequences all this can have for our security," Ryabkov said.

"The causes for concern have not been removed, but dialogue is needed - it is in our interest and we welcome the fact that the American side also, it appears, wants to continue this dialogue," he told reporters.

In Brussels, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia was "not a factor" in the U.S. decision to change missile defense plans but there was hope it would allay Russian misgivings.

"Does this change their perception of U.S. intent ... with the missile defense program? We would certainly hope so and would welcome such a change, but only they, in the end, can decide," said the official, briefing journalists on the condition that he was not further identified.

"We hope they will give it serious consideration and then come, we hope, to the correct conclusion that this is further evidence that NATO's missile defense plans ... do not threaten Russia."

U.S. plans for anti-missile defenses have ruffled relations with Russia since Ronald Reagan's 1980s presidency and caused more tension since U.S. President George W. Bush pulled out in 2002 from a Soviet-era treaty limiting their development.

Obama helped usher in a period of warmer relations with a 2009 decision to scale down the Bush blueprint for a European anti-missile shield. But Moscow soon began warning that the revised U.S. plans also presented a threat.

Ties between Moscow and Washington, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have soured since the return of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy, to the Kremlin last May. There have been disputes over human rights and security issues, including the war in Syria.

DIPLOMATIC IRRITANT

Washington says the anti-missile shield it has begun to deploy in Europe in cooperation with NATO nations is meant to counter a possible threat from Iran and poses no risk to Russia.

But Russia has said the shield would eventually enable the West to shoot down some Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, tipping the post-Cold War balance of power, and has aired suspicions that this is the underlying aim of the system.

In its first official reaction, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Moscow would stick to its demand for binding guarantees that the system would not threaten Russia's security.

Washington is highly unlikely to satisfy that demand because of concerns about circumscribing any American missile defense development or giving the Kremlin a say in U.S. defense policy.

Ryabkov said the United States had given Russia more information about its plans during his talks in Geneva this week with Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. acting under-secretary of state for arms control and international security.

"The material is interesting - it brings something new into this situation," Ryabkov said. "(But) I would not venture to say now whether the decisions made by the (U.S.) administration are a plus or more of a minus."

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Iran, Russia, Vatican threaten to derail U.N. women's rights appeal

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An "unholy alliance" of Iran, Russia, the Vatican and others is threatening to derail a U.N. declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls by objecting to language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights, some U.N. diplomats said Wednesday.

Delegates to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women are racing to reach a consensus deal on a final document by Friday and some diplomats say the future of the commission - a global policy-making body created in 1946 for the advancement of women - is at risk if they fail to broker a compromise.

"There's this sort of unholy alliance ... coming together to oppose language on sexual health, reproductive rights and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights," one senior U.N. diplomat said. "It's tough going, but progress is being made."

"People recognize that if there's a failure again this year to get an outcome document, then the whole future of the status of women commission is at risk," he said on condition of anonymity because negotiations are still underway.

Russia, the Vatican, Iran and other conservative Muslim states including Egypt, object to references to access to emergency contraception, abortion and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, women's rights activists said.

Last year, disagreements over similar issues prevented the commission from agreeing on a declaration of a theme of empowering rural women. Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and head of U.N. Women, which supports the commission, described last year's impasse as "deeply regrettable" and disappointing.

Diplomats say key sticking points in this year's draft text again revolve around sexual and reproductive rights, the inclusion of gay rights and an amendment proposed by Egypt that would allow countries to avoid implementing recommendations if they clashed with national laws, religious or cultural values.

"It's still a big fight," said one U.N. diplomat involved in negotiations and speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that language on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights of women was unlikely to be included in a final document.

CULTURAL TRADITION

Egypt's amendment to recognize states' sovereign rights in implementing the commission's recommendations was made on behalf of the African group of nations, although diplomats say several African countries distanced themselves from the proposal.

Some diplomats and rights activists said the Egypt amendment undermines the entire declaration by allowing states to ignore calls to end cultural and religious practices, such as female genital mutilation. Western human rights advocates say the idea of cultural tradition is often used to justify abuse of women.

"There's also an amendment that Russia has put forward about how unilateral sanctions are promoting violence against women, which strikes us as a bit of a stretch and it's slightly out of place," the senior U.N. diplomat said.

The reference to unilateral sanctions appeared to be in relation to U.S. and EU sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Russia's difficulties with language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights appears to be driven by what critics have described as a bid by President Vladimir Putin to shore up support in his country's largely conservative society.

Putin has criticized gays for failing to help reverse a population decline. Putin has also drawn closer to the Russian Orthodox Church, one of the most influential institutions in Russia.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also recently cited low birth rates in Russia and Iran as one possible reason for their stance on reproductive rights.

Another senior U.N. diplomat predicted that a watered down document would likely be agreed by Friday to "save face."

Shannon Kowalski, director of advocacy and policy at the International Women's Health Coalition, said prominent cases of violence against women, such as the shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl and education advocate and the gang rape of a young woman in India, has mobilized women around the world.

"Countries can't go back home and look women in the eye and tell them they could not reach agreement on ending violence against women," said Kowalski, who has been following the negotiations. "There's a lot of pressure here to have a strong agreement."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Russia willing to consider making it easier for Libya to buy arms

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia is prepared to consider ways of making it easier for Libya's government to buy arms, but voiced serious concern about lifting an embargo on the North African state already awash with weapons, Russia's U.N. ambassador said on Monday.

Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said last week he planned to ask the U.N. Security council to lift the embargo, which was imposed at the start of an uprising in 2011 that culminated in the ouster of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who is president of the Security Council this month, said there were concerns about the Libyan government's lack of authority in the vast desert country and the spread of weapons its borders.

He said Libya had not yet made an official request for the arms embargo to be lifted, but the issue would likely be discussed by the 15-member council before a meeting on Libya later this month.

"Some council members do have reservations about lifting the arms embargo," Churkin told reporters, noting that Libya's government was already able to purchase weapons with the approval of a Security Council sanctions committee.

"Of course it can be regarded as a somewhat cumbersome procedure even though it's supposed to happen rather quickly," Churkin said. "I think we will also be looking at ways maybe to facilitate the possible acquisition of arms by the Libyan government short of full fledge lifting of the arms embargo."

The Libyan government has struggled to exert authority across the country. State security forces remain weak and militias, made up of former rebel fighters, hold the power on the ground.

Libya's official LANA news agency quoted army chief of staff Yussef al-Mangoush last week as saying Libya was planning to rebuild its army and wanted to sign contracts with international consultancies to help carry this out and assess what kind of equipment it needed in the future.

Libya's south has become a smuggling route for weapons which have reached al Qaeda militants deep in the Sahara desert. The lawless region is also a conduit for trafficking legal and contraband goods.

In the eastern city of Benghazi - the cradle of the revolt against Gaddafi - there has been a wave of violence against diplomats, military and police, including a September 11 attack last year that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

"It does give one pause and I think suggests a need to reflect very carefully on the advisability of lifting the arms embargo," Churkin said of the security concerns facing Libya.

Russia is still bristling that its abstention from a U.N. vote in 2011 allowed NATO air strikes to help Libyan rebels trying to topple Gaddafi. Russian officials accused the United States and its allies of overstepping their mandate.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Russia leases planes to Cuba, writes off Soviet debt

HAVANA (Reuters) - Russia will lease eight jets worth $650 million to its Cold War- era ally Cuba and will partially write off the country's multi-billion-dollar, Soviet-era debt under agreements signed during Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Havana on Thursday.

Moscow will write off part of the $30 billion debt and will offer a 10-year refinancing plan for the remaining amount, according to the preliminary agreement, Russia's industry and trade minister Denis Manturov told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.

"There was an accumulated debt on loans allocated by the Soviet Union and we have now prepared an agreement that should undergo all the necessary procedures," he said.

Manturov said the final decision on debt settlement will be signed by the end of the year.

Russia will also lease three Ilyushin-96-400 long-haul jets, three AN-158 regional planes and two TU-204SM mid-range aircraft to Cuba under the agreements inked in the presence of Medvedev and Cuban leader Raul Castro.

Moscow will provide sovereign guarantees to a syndicate of Russian banks financing the deal, Manturov said.

Medvedev and Castro were seen chatting informally and broadly smiling during the ceremony. The Cuban leader greeted reporters in Russian.

Russia and Cuba enjoyed close relations during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and Washington.

The volume of trade between the two countries last year was roughly $200 million. Oil companies from Russia, the world's largest energy exporter, are drilling into Cuba's offshore oil deposits.

(Reporting By Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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