Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that the US was 'no longer an enemy, but also not yet a friend,' shortly before talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Interfax news agency reported.

Lavrov said that his personal relationship with Clinton was 'constructive and solution-oriented.'

The relationship between President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev 20 years after the end of the Cold War was one of 'trust', he added.

Clinton arrived in Moscow early Thursday for talks on nuclear disarmament and the Middle East.

As an example of a bilateral problem with the US, Lavrov cited the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

'For us Iran is a neighbour with whom we have historical links and with whom we cooperate politically, economically and militarily,' he said.

Russia was just as 'unsettled' as the US about Iran's failure to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said. But Russia was against isolating Iran in the UN Security Council.