"We can put a full stop on some problems in US-Russia relations and consider them definitively resolved," Putin said at the start of talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

Rice also spoke positively of the contentious issues in US-Russia relations ahead of the meeting, saying: "I'm quite certain we can work on those and we can see if we can reach agreement."

Putin said he had received a "very serious" letter from Bush. "If we manage to reach agreement on its basic provisions, then we can state our dialogue is proceeding successfully," Putin said.

A US official travelling with Rice said the letter contained ideas about the broader agenda ahead in US-Russia relations.

Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source saying the letter also concerned the "legacy" of Putin and Bush, who will both be leaving office over the next year.

The US-Russia talks were a first opportunity for US officials to assess president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, Putin's hand-picked successor who won a landslide election victory on March 2 and will officially begin his four-year term on May 7.

Rice and Gates were in Moscow for sensitive talks focusing on US plans to site missile defence facilities near Russia's borders in Poland and the Czech Republic -- a move that has angered Moscow.

But the tone at Monday's talks appeared markedly different to a visit by Rice and Gates last October, when Putin was shown on state television berating the US officials over Washington's missile defence plans.

Moscow opposes US plans to place a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland, seeing them as a security threat and part of an effort to encircle Russia.

Washington insists the missile defence facilities could not impinge on Russia or its vast nuclear arsenal and says they are intended to protect against unfriendly states such as Iran and North Korea.

On his way to Moscow, Gates suggested there was little room for flexibility on missile defence, saying he wanted Russia to give ground and respond to existing US compromise proposals on missile defence.

"We have put a lot on the table. We are willing to explain it further, but now it is time for them to reciprocate," Gates told journalists, referring to proposals intended to allay Russian concerns put forward last October.

"At some point the Russians are going to have to decide whether they want to be true partners, which we're offering, or whether this is all just a sham game on their part," Gates said.

Tensions have mounted between Russia and the United States not only on missile defence but also the possible expansion of the NATO military alliance, which Moscow opposes.

At a NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, hope to get the go-ahead to begin formal adhesion to NATO.

A planned Bush visit to Ukraine on the eve of the summit could also ratchet up tensions.

Welcoming Gates and Rice for talks earlier Monday, Putin's successor in waiting, Medvedev, noted differences with Washington over missile defence and arms control but said Moscow had "a will to move forward" in resolving them.

Earlier this month, Putin warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the West should not expect an easier ride under his reputedly more liberal successor, saying that "I do not think that with him the partnership will be more simple."

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