WASHINGTON (AP):

President George W. Bush said yesterday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week to try to break a logjam between the two nations over a proposed new United States (US) missile defence system.

Bush is accepting Putin's invitation for a meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on April 6, to come at the end of the president's trip that starts on Monday to Ukraine, Croatia and the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania. It will likely be the last between Bush and the Russian leader before Putin leaves office. Putin's successor as Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, takes office at the beginning of May.

Bush announced the visit during a pre-trip interview with foreign journalists. He said he and Putin would discuss the missile defence system that the US plans to base in Central Europe. It would involve 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a tracking radar system in the Czech Republic.

Moscow has been vehemently opposed to the idea, saying the intent is to weaken its nuclear deterrent. The US denies that, saying the facilities being designed would protect Europe against a potential missile attack or even just nuclear blackmail by Iran.

The dispute has become heated, with increasingly confrontational rhetoric coming from Moscow. But there have been signs of cooling recently and Bush said he wanted to build on that.