Obama: U.S., Russia "close" to new arms deal

US President, Barack Obama, has said that the US and Russia are close to reaching an agreement on further reducing their nuclear arsenals. Obama met with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, on the sidelines of the UN climate conference. Neither leader hinted at a possible timetable for signing a deal to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty known as START-1.

Obama said, "Our main focus today was the START treaty, the new START treaty that we have been negotiating.We are quite close to an agreement and I am confident that it will be completed in a timely fashion."

Medvedev said both sides have agreed on nearly all issues in the new agreement, but says certain technical details still need consensus. Meanwhile, Russian news agencies have cited one of Medvedev's aides as ruling out a treaty signing by the end of this year. The aide says negotiations have stalled over a disagreement about how to monitor the development of new inter-continental ballistic missiles.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with his Russian  counterpart Dmitry Medvedev at the Bella Center in Copenhagen  December 18, 2009. The United States and Russia are "quite close"  to agreeing a new START nuclear arms reduction pact, Obama said  on Friday. REUTERS/Larry Downing