Washington-Moscow spy dispute over

After a week of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats, both the United States and Russia have expressed a desire to work towards improving ties.

An American State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, agreed during a telephone conversation to end the disagreement over alleged spying.

It began last week when Washington ordered fifty Russian embassy staff to leave by the middle of the year, naming four as having links with a former FBI agent, Robert Hanssen, who has been charged with spying for Russia.

Moscow reciprocated by ordering the withdrawal of fifty American envoys.

The State Department statement said America wanted to maintain its cooperative relationship Moscow.

A similarly-worded statement has been issued in Moscow.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service