Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia will not seek to abandon the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty when a conference of treaty signatories is held next week in Vienna, Russian news agencies reported.

As tensions between Russia and the West over U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile interceptors in Poland are growing, Polish President Kaczynski visits NATO headquarters Wednesday.

United States Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland was in Prague this week to discuss a proposed missile-defense shield with Czech officials and other NATO allies.

U.S. and Afghan forces in Eastern Afghanistan have killed at least six suspected insurgents. Violent attacks are on the rise throughout much of Afghanistan, including areas previously considered relatively secure.

Russia has requested an emergency conference to discuss the Conventional Forces In Europe (CFE) Treaty. The Foreign Ministry said that Russia has approached the Netherlands, the depositary of the treaty, with a request to call an emergency conference on June 12-15 in Vienna.

New Defense Minister of France Herve Morin has made his first official trip abroad - to Kosovo - where he met his country's soldiers on Monday.

U.S. President George W. Bush welcomed NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to his Texas ranch on May 21, where the two men discussed a range of issues, including the war in Afghanistan, Kosovo's final status, and NATO enlargement.

The increasing spiral of violence in Afghanistan is one of the main topics occupying U.S. President George W. Bush and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in talks today at Bush's Texas ranch.

Afghan police say air strikes by NATO-led forces killed 60 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar Province overnight. Provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said the strikes targeted at least one gathering of Taliban fighters in the province late May 14.

NATO said the killing of the Taliban's top operational commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, is a major setback for militants there, but security analysts interviewed by RFE/RL countered that there are many local Taliban commanders who are willing to succeed him.

NATO's top commander in Afghanistan has confirmed that a battle between U.S. forces and Taliban in southern Afghanistan resulted in civilian casualties.

The governor of southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province says an overnight air strike by NATO forces has killed at least 21 civilians -- including women and children. Governor Assadullah Wafa says the planes attacked a village in the province's Sangin district after Taliban fighters sought shelter in noncombatants' homes there.