Relations between the United States and Russia edged back from the brink of a wintry freeze Thursday when both sides said work on bilateral agreements was proceeding smoothly and U.S. Vice President Al Gore said he would see President Boris Yeltsin on Friday.


Gore and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin have been meeting since Wednesday to draft accords on topics ranging from space exploration to health care and energy policy. Though the talks are regularly scheduled, they come at a highly tense time for U.S.-Russian relations.


Last week an enormous gap opened between the two countries at a security conference in Budapest, when Russia openly objected to NATO's intended expansion into the countries of the former Soviet bloc. That dispute was exacerbated by Russia's refusal to condemn the latest offensive by the Bosnian Serbs and Moscow's criticism of U.S. plans to lift the international arms embargo on the Bosnian government.


But talk of a "Cold Peace" subsided Thursday as Gore told reporters that his conversations with Chernomyrdin were going even better than expected.


"We have had some very positive discussions here," Gore said. "I think you will agree that the commission has been very productive." The Moscow meetings are part of ongoing negotiations between Russia and the United States under the auspices of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission.


The official newspaper of the Yeltsin administration, Rossiiskiye Vesti, concurred with Gore's rosy outlook, saying that relations with the U.S. are on a "normal level," and that complete harmony between the two countries could never be expected. "We don't even have those kind of relations with the countries of the near-abroad," the newspaper wrote.


Gore also took pains not to offend Russia on the war in Chechnya. Echoing the line repeated by many Western leaders, he said the situation in Chechnya was an "internal Russian affair" and that the United States would not get involved.


"It is our hope that it can be solved by peaceful negotiations," he said.


U.S. officials did, however, go out of their way to downplay recent comments by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who, while trying to appear neutral on the war in Chechnya, sounded as if he endorsed it."I think he probably did what he had to do to prevent this republic from breaking away," Christopher had said on PBS Television's MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour.


Several U.S. Cabinet members are in Moscow to sign accords reached by the commission. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry arrived Thursday for the meetings with Gore and Yeltsin.