The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Moscow

A news report is quoting a senior Russian general as saying that the military will cut some weapons programs if the United States drops its missile defense plans.

The Interfax news agency is quoting Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov as saying that the Russian armed forces wouldn't need some expensive weapons programs if the U.S. doesn't go ahead with its plans to deploy missile defense sites in Europe.

Solovtsov's statement on Friday was the latest expression of the Kremlin's hope that Barack Obama's administration may reverse the plan to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia has fiercely opposed the plan and promised to deploy missiles next to Poland if the U.S. goes ahead with the plan.

Meanwhile, NATO and Russia were to resume high-level talks Friday, four months after they were frozen over the war in Georgia, with Moscow demanding that all points of discord be raised.

"Everything has to be put on the table," Russian ambassador Dmitry Rogozin told AFP.

on the eve of his "confidential" informal lunch talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at alliance headquarters in Brussels.

NATO foreign ministers agreed on December 2 "on a measured and phased approach" for resuming talks in the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which meets at ambassadorial, ministerial and head of government levels.

The talks were put on ice in August due to Russia's war in Georgia, but technical and working-level discussions have continued.

The ministers gave Scheffer a mandate "to re-engage with Russia at the political level" and agreed to a resumption of informal discussions in the NRC, with a full return to formal talks only possible after he reports back.

Rogozin said Moscow was "ready" for an informal NATO-Russia Council to be held later-officials say this is unlikely before January at the earliest-and that its possible agenda could be discussed Friday.