U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Moscow October 12 within the framework of her European tour. The meeting with RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will open the official part of the visit today. The officials will focus on the new agreement on measures to reduce strategic offensive arms, Iran’s nuclear program, China, and the situation in Afghanistan, ITAR-TASS informs.

The disarmament issues will be discussed along with the anti-missile defence ones. The joint work of Russia-U.S. expert group — under the auspices of presidents of the two countries, will be one of the key topics at the Moscow meeting.

Western media says Mrs. Clinton intends to get Russia’s support concerning sanctions against Iran if talks on the latter’s nuclear program fail.

U.S. Secretary of State’s meeting with RF President Dmitry Medvedev is due later in the day. Mrs. Clinton will leave for Kazan, Wednesday.

As head of U.S. diplomacy, this is Clinton’s first visit to Russia.