MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin hosted former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger in the Kremlin on Friday, urging the West to open its arms to Russia as an equal partner, AFP said.

The most important task is "to enlist Russia in the international community," Putin told the U.S. statesman in televised remarks.

However this will be impossible to do "without first creating a single security zone in Europe, at least between the industrially-developed states," said Putin.

Kissinger, who is in Moscow in his role as honorary member of the International Olympic Committee, for his part expressed optimism that Russia and the United States would soon solve their dispute over missile defense.