The president of Belarus said Tuesday he was seriously concerned about U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense shield in Central Europe and about NATO's eastward expansion.

NATO has no objections to discussing setting up an information exchange between Brussels and Moscow on missile launches in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council, a source in NATO headquarters said Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to become the first foreign leader hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush at the Bush family's oceanside retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine.

A leading Russian North America expert said Thursday this weekend's U.S.-Russia summit could pave the way for a dialogue on missile defense, an issue that has sent bilateral relations to their lowest point in years.

Moscow hopes to reach an agreement on missile defense with the U.S., Russia's foreign minister said Friday in an interview with TV network Vesti 24.

The joint use of a radar in Azerbaijan, which Russia has proposed to Washington, would not remove the threat of a missile attack from Iran, the U.S. missile defense chief Henry Obering said Friday.

Defense ministers of 26 NATO member states have spoken out for continuing consultations with Russia on plans to deploy U.S. missile defense elements in Central Europe.

NATO ministers Thursday considered the impact of Russia's offer to include an Azerbaijani radar base in the missile shield and assessed how the planned U.S. anti-missile bases in Europe could be integrated into the alliance's defenses.

Consultations on the possible use of the Gabala radar by the U.S. will start after the Russian president's visit to the U.S., the chief of Russia's General Staff said Tuesday.

Russia's foreign minister said Saturday the U.S. should put on hold moves to deploy a missile shield in Europe pending talks on Moscow's recent offer to jointly use a radar in Azerbaijan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says U.S. missile-defense interceptors could be located in Turkey, Iraq, or on sea platforms. Putin made his comments at a press conference at the close of a Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Some 100 Polish antiglobalists are demonstrating against a visit by the U.S. president, who is scheduled to meet with the Polish president in Jurata, the presidential residence on the Baltic Sea coast. George Bush and Lech Kaczynski are expected to discuss issues related to the deployment of elements of a U.S. missile shield in Poland.