Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday briefed President Jiang Zemin on talks held between Russia and the United States on global strategic stability, according to report.

In a prearranged phonecall, Putin also briefed Jiang on the G-8 summit in Genoa.

Jiang thanked Putin for the briefing and said he looked forward to meeting him at the APEC summit in Shanghai October 20-21, the agency said.

A trio of top US officials including US foreign police advisor Condoleezza Rice met Putin in the Kremlin earlier Thursday as the United States and Russia tackled a dispute over striking a deal on Washington's plans for a national missile defence system.

Strategic stability dominated the agenda as Rice met top Russian defence officials, warning that Washington's patience had its bounds and it planned to move beyond the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty no matter what Russia had to say about it.

A top Moscow minister later announced that the two sides had agreed a timetable aimed at helping resolve the dispute by the time US President George W. Bush and Putin met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shanghai.

China had on Monday expressed caution over a newly forged US-Russian agreement to cut nuclear weapons and maintained that any nuclear arms reductions must safeguard the current "global strategic stability."

In what has been seen as a landmark move, Bush and Putin agreed Sunday to tie negotiations on nuclear arms reductions to Washington's plan to build a controversial missile defense plans.

(Chinadaily.com.cn 07/27/2001)