U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is traveling to Iceland for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, set to approve a revamped alliance relationship with Russia. 

If last minute details are resolved, the 19 foreign ministers and their Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, are expected to agree on the creation of a new body, the NATO-Russia Council. The council will provide a forum for Russian representatives to sit side-by-side with their alliance colleagues to plan a common policy on such issues as terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and other security threats. 

Plans to increase Russia's role in alliance discussions intensified after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. Since then, Moscow has shared intelligence with Washington and accepted the U.S. use of military bases in former Soviet Central Asian republics for anti-terrorist operations. 

The new council is to be formally inaugurated on May 28th, when Russian President Vladimir Putin joins NATO leaders at a summit outside Rome. The NATO ministers, meeting in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, are also expected to review alliance plans for eastward expansion. A final decision on admitting new members is expected at November's NATO summit in Prague. 

Mr. Powell is also expected to press his European counterparts to increase their military spending, so that the entire alliance is ready to respond quickly to various threats, including terrorism. 

In comments before the meeting, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns told reporters the Bush administration is extremely concerned about what he called the worrisome gap between the United States and its European allies in military capability. 

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