MOSCOW – Secretary of State Rice arrives in Moscow today with experts expecting her to temper criticism of democratic backsliding in an effort to shore up cooperation on strategic issues such as keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.

Ms. Rice, on her first visit to Russia as America’s top diplomat, will meet with President Putin and other top Russian officials during the two-day summit. She said before departing that she will raise the issue of Russia’s democratic record.

“My message will be that a democratic and vibrant and prosperous Russia is in everyone’s interest,” Ms. Rice, a former Soviet specialist, told a meeting of American newspaper editors last week. “Our relationship with Russia holds enormous potential, and we can do even more together as Russia moves along a democratic path.”

Critics have accused Mr. Putin’s Kremlin of stifling democracy by abolishing regional elections, jailing political opponents, and tightening state controls on the press. President Bush scolded a clearly unhappy Mr. Putin on democracy during a summit meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, in February.

An international press watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, yesterday appealed to Ms. Rice to raised the issue of press freedoms in her meeting with Mr. Putin. The group said more than 20 Russian journalists have been attacked in the last year and that the Russian government is tolerating a “spiral of violence” that is “sowing terror among the press and forcing journalists into generalized self-censorship.”

A Russian diplomatic source told Moscow’s Vremya Novostei newspaper that Russian officials would be looking to answer criticisms.

“We plan to change the persisting stereotypes in the U.S. interpretation of modern Russian realities, when certain quarters are trying to sow mistrust between Moscow and Washington,” the source said.

Still, experts said that now that Mr. Bush has voiced concerns, officials on both sides are looking to move forward before the American president arrives in Moscow for May 9 ceremonies commemorating the end of World War II.

“Democracy is not going to be the first issue on the agenda,” said the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Andrew Kuchins. “Not that she will be avoiding it, but I don’t think it’s something that she wants to emphasize.”

The deputy director of Moscow’s prestigious U.S.A. and Canada Institute, Viktor Kremenyuk, agreed.

“After the summit meeting, there was the beginning of a cease-fire,” he said. “Both sides are now looking to be more constructive.”

Mr. Kuchins said U.S.-Russia relations have improved since their low point earlier this year, when the Kremlin was accusing America of trying to weaken Russia by fostering revolutions in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.

“Relations were worsening throughout the fall and winter and were especially bad after Ukraine,” he said. “But the meeting in Bratislava broke the ice, and now both administrations would like to move on.”

Among the issues to be discussed are Russian energy supplies to America, American investment in Russia, and cooperation in the former Soviet Union, including upcoming elections in Kyrgyzstan and long-simmering conflicts in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

Iran and North Korea are also expected to be on the agenda, as are efforts to safeguard Russia’s massive nuclear stockpile – an issue Mr. Kuchins said the Bush administration is making a bigger priority for its second term. American experts and lawmakers have repeatedly warned that Russia’s stockpile of more than 20,000 nuclear warheads is dangerously unprotected and that weapon-grade plutonium could fall into the hands of Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. In 2003, testimony in a Russian criminal case showed that a Russian businessman had been offering $750,000 for stolen weapon-grade plutonium for sale to a foreign client.

An informed Russian source said the Russians are expecting Ms. Rice to be looking for assurances on when American inspectors will have more access to nuclear sites. The Kremlin has so far refused access to a number of sensitive sites.

“The Americans want to have a look at those storage facilities, to assess the danger of nuclear materials being sold illegally,” said the source, who requested anonymity.

Mr. Kuchins said he expects some modest progress on the issue of nuclear safeguards, but no “headline-grabbing” announcements.

Ms. Rice will leave tomorrow for NATO meetings in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Members of the 26-nation alliance are expected to discuss NATO’s commitment to training security forces in Iraq, as well as NATO operations in Afghanistan and the Balkans.