MOSCOW - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Russian human rights activists on Saturday she wanted to help them build institutions to protect people from the 'arbitrary power of the state'.

The meeting could irk the Kremlin, which is sensitive to Western accusations it is rolling back democratic freedoms and suspects foreign governments of trying to influence the outcome of next year's presidential election.

Gathered around a table in an elegant, oval dining room at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Moscow, Rice told the eight human rights leaders she wanted to hear how their efforts to protect freedoms in Russia were progressing.

The United States and other Western governments are concerned about democracy, human rights and civil society in Russia under President Vladimir Putin, who moved to centralize power following the more chaotic years of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. Putin, however, enjoys strong public support in Russia.

National television, the main source of news for most Russians, has come under tighter Kremlin control and Putin's opponents now rarely have access to the airwaves.

"I am quite confident that your goal is to build institutions that are indigenous to Russia -- that are Russian institutions -- but that are also respectful of what we all know to be universal values," said Rice.

She said these were: "The rights of individuals to liberty and freedom, the right to worship as you please, and the right to assembly, the right to not have to deal with the arbitrary power of the state," Rice said.

"These are liberties that all human beings desire. And so, every country, every people, every culture has its own expression of those institutions," she said.

"How is it going and what can we do to help Russia to build strong institutions that have these universal values?"


SOFTER AGENDA

Rice's aides said the activists included Lyudmila Alexeyeva, chair of the Moscow Helskinki Group; Tatyana Lokshina, director of the DEMOS group; Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the civic assistance committee for refugees and Aleksandr Brod, head of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau.

Also present was Vladimir Lukin, a former Russian ambassador to the United States who is Russia's state human rights ombudsman.

Rice came to Moscow for a day of so-called "2+2" talks on Friday among the U.S. and Russian foreign and defense ministers about strategic issues, including U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in parts of central Europe.

Russia fiercely opposes the plan, saying it will undermine its security.

She was to spend her second day in Moscow largely concentrating on the softer side of the U.S. agenda with Russia, meeting the human rights activists and then holding a second session with media, civil society and business leaders.