Jul 4, 2009, 11:20 GMT
Moscow/Washington - The Kremlin has agreed to allow the transport of US supplies and weapons over Russian airspace on the way to Afghanistan, according to Russian and US media reports Saturday.
An announcement of the breakthrough was set to coincide with US President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow Monday and Tuesday.
'This concerns land transportation, but, also to a great degree, air transport of all cargo,' said Sergey Prikhodko, the Kremlin's foreign relations spokesman, in Russian media reports.
Until now, Russia has only allowed the US military to use rail transport across its region on the way to the war in Afghanistan, to transport nonlethal supplies.
It is not yet clear if the new standards would allow US troops to travel through Russian airspace on their way to Afghanistan. The New York Times reported that it would be possible, but Russian officials were more circumspect.
Allowing US military transport across Russia would be seen by many analysts as a major step in US efforts to thaw relations with Russia, noted the Times.
The US military has launched a new offensive further into a Taliban bastion in southern Afghanistan, marking the beginning of Obama's new strategy there.
Since taking office, Obama has identified the conflict in Afghanistan as the largest national security threat facing the United States, and he has sent thousands of added troops to help carry out the offensive.
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