WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will head to Moscow next week for talks with her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, her spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday.

“There are a lot of issues to talk about in the US-Russia strategic relation, spanning from nuclear non-proliferation to missile defense to the development of democracy in Russia,” McCormack told reporters.

He said it was also possible that Rice will make a stop somewhere in the Middle East. He made clear that the visit likely will not be to Israel. A State Department official said on Monday that Rice would take part in a meeting of the Quartet major powers involved in Mideast peace, to be held at an undetermined location in Egypt.—AFP