WASHINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua)-- The United States has reached an agreement to hold top-level meetings to resolve an escalating dispute over American plans to build anti-missile system in Eastern Europe, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

    "We have agreed to a Russian suggestion that the secretaries of defense and state meet with their Russian counterparts and do so in a so-called 2+2" format, Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried told reporters.

    Fried said the first meeting was tentatively planned for around September, possibly with the participation of two governments' national security advisers.

    The United States plans to base missile interceptors in Poland and radar units in the Czech Republic as part of a project to extend the missile defense system to Europe, a precaution measure that, Washington says, is to defend threat from the Middle East threats.

    Russia has expressed strong concerns about the American plan, saying that it will harm regional security situation.