Russia’s foreign ministry said March 19 it was studying written proposals from the U.S. aimed at allaying Moscow’s concerns over Washington’s missile defense plans in Europe. The proposals came after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates held talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday with outgoing President Vladimir Putin, president-elect Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials. “We’ve literally just received the written proposals of the American side on missile defense and will proceed to study them,” foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told Russian news agency Interfax.