COPENHAGEN, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressed hope Tuesday for a positive outcome of talks with Russia over US plans to deploy missile defences in Europe, which Moscow has bitterly opposed.

Gates cited positive statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently as signs that US assurances to Moscow had had 'a real impact.'

European reservations about the plan to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic by 2012 had been prompted largely by concern over Russia's reaction, he said.

'The Russians probably are never going to like missile defence. But I think the assurances we have provided, and the mechanisms we have proposed, gives some assurance that it is not aimed at them,' Gates said.

'And my hope is that will lead to positive outcomes both in Bucharest and in Solchi,' he said at a news conference with Danish Defence Minister Soeren Gade.

Putin is scheduled to meet NATO leaders at a summit in Bucharest on Friday, and then host Bush for further talks over the weekend at the Black Sea port of Solchi.

Gates and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have advanced proposals for transparency and cooperation on missile defence in talks with Putin and Lavrov, most recently in Moscow last month.

Moscow has fiercely opposed the deployment of the missile defence system, viewing it as a threat to its security. The United States insists that it is a limited system designed to counter missiles from what it describes as 'rogue' states such Iran or North Korea, and poses no threat to Moscow.

Gates, who noted that Denmark hosted a radar for the US-based missile defence system in Thule, Greenland, said it should be integrated with a NATO effort to develop defences against short and medium range missiles.

jm/National League/jj