Bush to visit Moscow `some time next year' - Powell
( 2001-11-30 11:16 ) (7 )

US President George W. Bush is planning to visit Russia "some time next year," although an exact date for the trip has not yet been set, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday in Washington.

"The president is very much looking forward to visiting Russia, visiting Moscow at some time next year," Powell told reporters here, adding, however: "We have not scheduled a date yet."

Powell said the trip would be a "reciprocal visit," following a mid-November trip to the United States by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, in addition to visiting the White House, also met with Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

During the trip, Putin invited Bush to visit Russia.

Powell -- who is scheduled to visit Moscow himself next week -- stressed that economic cooperation between the two nations is "going well."

He added that the nations' work together in the US-led war on terrorism "has been very significant."

Washington launched the campaign in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on US landmarks, which left some 3,700 people dead or missing in New York, in Pennsylvania and just outside Washington.

Powell noted, however, that the matter of missile defense is still under "discussion."

"There are still different points of view," he said.