Bush's national security assistant visits Moscow

MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Stephen J. Hadley, assistant to the U.S. president for national security, Russian presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov said Monday.

He gave no details of the meeting.

Earlier on Monday, Hadley met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov said before the talks that they intended to discuss the situation in the CIS and underscored the importance of bilateral strategic dialogue on security.

He also said the talks Monday were being held prior to a session of the Russian-U.S. working group for counter-terrorism, scheduled for December 5-6.

Hadley said Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Lebanon were also on the agenda.

After the talks with Putin, Hadley met with Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov.

"The sides discussed a wide range of Russian-U.S. bilateral issues, including the joint fight against modern threats and challenges and coordination of counter-terrorism steps," the Security Council's press service said.

They also discussed key international problems, including the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.