Politkovskaya, a sharp critic of Putin and the conduct of the Kremlin and of Russia's war in Chechnya, was found shot dead at her Moscow apartment building.

Since Putin's election more than six years ago, he has presided over what critics have called a steady rollback in press freedoms won since the Soviet Union's collapse. Top independent television stations have been shut down and print media are under growing pressure from officials.

Putin said the killers had done the Russian government no favor. The killing "inflicts much greater damage to the government than any of her writing," he said after the killing.

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders has called Putin one of the world's press freedom "predators."

Rice's last Asian stop was in Beijing, North Korea's traditional ally, where she met with a Chinese government envoy just back from a hastily arranged visit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Rice said the envoy, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, told her nothing that confirmed news reports about conciliatory moves from the North.

"Councilor Tang did not tell me that Kim Jong Il either apologized for the test or said that he would never test again," Rice said, adding that she does not know the source of widely circulated South Korean media reports to the contrary.

"I don't know whether or not Kim Jong Il said any such thing. But the Chinese ... in a fairly thorough briefing to me about the talks, said nothing," that confirms it, Rice said.

Lavrov, in the Kuwaiti interview, urged the U.S. and North Korea to settle issues such as U.S.-imposed financial restrictions in order to clear the way for international talks to resume on the North's nuclear program.

"Both sides should show flexibility," he said.