Russia Obtained US Guarantees On Missile Shield: Lavrov
The United States gave Moscow guarantees that its proposed anti-missile shield "will be not directed" against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday in a first sign of progress in very hard negotiations between the two countries.

"The Americans are ready to provide us with a series of measures to give us confidence and reassure us that this system is not directed against us," said Lavrov in an interview published on the website of the daily Izvestia.

The Russian diplomat was referring to a US proposal to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic as part of an anti-missile system which Washington says is aimed at protecting against "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.

The Russian side had never taken such a positive stance about the extremely sensitive proposal, which Moscow sees as a direct threat to its security, especially with a radar installation that could survey parts of Russia's territory.

Lavrov said the United States had proposed giving Russia the possibility of monitoring, both with inspectors and equipment, "the function of the radar station" in the Czech Republic and "the actual condition of the base of interceptor missiles" in Poland.

"At this stage, we have succeeded in getting the Americans to admit that our concerns are not without foundation," Lavrov said, commenting on talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Moscow on Tuesday.

"Of course, they continue to assure that they are not going to use these bases in Poland and in the Czech Republic against us, but they are forced to accept our argument: in affairs like this, it is not the intentions that count, but the potential," Lavrov said.

Russia's foreign ministry had said Wednesday it was studying new written proposals from the United States aimed at allaying Moscow's concerns over Washington's missile defence plans in Europe.

The proposals came after Rice and Gates held talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday with outgoing President Vladimir Putin, president-elect Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials.

Russian newspapers on Wednesday said both sides were keen to ensure that Putin's planned attendance at a NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4 was a cordial affair.
Russian Television Journalist Killed
A journalist for state-run Russian television was found dead in Moscow early Friday and prosecutors have opened a murder investigation, colleagues and officials said.

Firefighters found Channel One correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev's body in his apartment with stab wounds and a belt around his neck, Channel One spokeswoman Larisa Krymova said. She said a fire was apparently set in the apartment after the attack.

The Investigative Committee, a branch of the prosecutor's office said a murder investigation was underway. It said nothing about a possible motive.

State-run Vesti-24 television cited a concierge in Shurpayev's building as saying he had called down from his apartment early Friday to ask her to let two young men in.

Shurpayev, 32, was a native of the mostly Muslim Dagestan province and had worked in Russia's violence-ridden North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan and war-scarred Chechnya. Dagestan is plagued by tension among rival groups and political factions.

Hours before his death, Shurpayev wrote in his blog that the owners of a newspaper in Dagestan banned a column he wrote and instructed its staffers not to mention his name in publications.

"Now I am a dissident!" was the title of the last entry in the Web journal under his name.

More than a dozen journalists have been slain in contract-style killings in Russia since 2000. Many journalists appear to have been targeted for beatings and killings because of their attempts to dig into allegations of corruption.

Hate attacks on members of ethnic minorities from the Caucasus and former Soviet Central Asia are also common in Moscow.

Critics say Russia has witnessed a steady rollback of post-Soviet media and political freedoms during President Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency. Top independent television stations have been shut down and print media have also experienced growing official pressure.
Despite Russian opposition, this week's meetings marked a contrast with previous angry exchanges.

Lavrov earlier described as "important and useful" the latest US proposals, previously said to include allowing Russian officers to inspect the defence sites.

Wednesday's edition of the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that while Russia remained unhappy with the overall missile defence plan, this week's meetings "clearly can't be called a failure."

The independent Gazeta newspaper said the US proposals "give reason to predict a warm, friendly atmosphere at the NATO summit" to be attended by Putin.