Russian President Vladimir Putin and hisUS counterpart Barack Obama will hold full-fledged talks on the sidelines ofthe G8 Summit in Northern Ireland in June, a Putin aide said.
The possibility of "contacts in connection with Obama's participation in aG20 summit" is also under consideration, presidential aide Yury Ushakovsaid.
The question of a possible visit to Moscow by Obama will be discussed with USNational Security Advisor Tom Donilon, he said.
"I believe Donilon will come to Moscow and issue some signals in thatregard," he said.
Putin has no plans to meet with Donilon himself, he added.
Ushakov said in March that Donilon would arrive in Moscow April 15 to discuss anew configuration of the US missile defence system.
The US-Russia "reset" has been strained by a number of issues,including missile defence, the Magnitsky Act, international adoptions and theconflict in Syria.
Missile Defence:
One of the thorniest issues in US-Russian relations in recent years has beenMoscow's virulent opposition to the deployment of a NATO missile shield ineastern Europe.
However, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced in March that plans for thefinal stage of Central European-based missile shields are to be scrapped andthat interceptors will instead be placed in Alaska.
The US says that the positioning of interceptors in Alaska and an additionalradar station in Japan are designed to provide further coverage from anypossible missiles launched from North Korea, but Russia worries that anymissile defence programme undermines the integrity of its own militarystrategy.
Russia says it is pressing for "legally binding agreements guaranteeingthat US missile defence elements are not aimed against Russia's strategic nuclearforces".
Magnitsky, Adoptions:
Another bone of contention that has crippled bilateral ties was the USCongress' passage late last year of the Magnitsky Act, a law introducingsanctions for Russian officials deemed guilty of human rights abuses. Russiaretaliated by banning American adoptions of Russian children.
Both the White House and the State Department had opposed the Magnitsky law.But Russian officials and state-run media responded with a new wave ofanti-American sentiment, stoked by the February death of an adopted Russiantoddler in Texas.
Ushakov said in mid-March that Moscow would unveil its own list of alleged USrights violators, should Washington proceed with moves to penalize a range ofRussian officials, referring to the imminent publication of the so-called"Magnitsky List", which envisions visa bans and the freezing of USbank accounts of Russian officials suspected of rights abuses.
The anti-US "Dima Yakovlev List" has received resounding support fromthe ruling United Russia party. The list is named after a Russian-born toddlerwho died in the US in 2008 after being left in an overheated car by hisAmerican adoptive father.
The proposed Russian blacklist - also known as the "Guantanamo List"- was drawn up last fall in response to the Magnitsky Act and initially listed11 US officials allegedly implicated in human rights violations at theGuantanamo Bay facility in Cuba and in secret CIA prisons across Europe.
The Magnitsky Act, which was approved by the White House in December, wasinitially aimed at officials allegedly linked to the death of Russian lawyerSergei Magnitsky in a pre-trial detention facility in 2009.
Syria:
About 70,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the uprising againstPresident Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to UN figures.
Russia has faced widespread condemnation over its refusal to approve UNsanctions against Assad's regime.
Moscow has repeatedly said that it has no interest in seeing Assad remain inpower, but that it is concerned that unilateral sanctions leading to hisdownfall could create a power vacuum and lead to more violence.
