Obama, Medvedev discuss signing arms treaty soon

MOSCOW: US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev discussed constructively a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, adding it could be signed in the near future.

The telephone call, which the Kremlin said was initiated by Washington, followed comments by Russian Foreign Ministry officials that negotiators from both countries are likely to agree on a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) within weeks.

"The heads of state in detail and objectively discussed topical issues pertaining to Russian-US relations, including approaching signing, in the near future, a new treaty on strategic arms reduction," official site kremlin.ru said.

It added that the telephone call was conducted in a "constructive" spirit.

Forging a new pact is a key element of Obama's efforts to mend relations with Russia, which plunged to post-Cold War lows after Russia's war with pro-Western Georgia in August 2008.

Productive meetings between top US officials and their Russian counterparts in Moscow last week have brought the sides close to agreement on a successor to START, ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The talks were successful, and as a result we can hope that it will take just a few weeks for negotiators to come up with a document," Lyakin-Frolov said.

In London, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Moscow talks brought "very important steps" towards an agreement and that negotiators are expected to bridge remaining gaps between their positions within a few weeks.

The United States and Russia also hope the new treaty will boost efforts to curb global nuclear arms proliferation by sending a message that the countries possessing all but five percent of the world's arsenals are making cuts.

After failing to put a new treaty in place before START I expired last month, both sides have expressed hope for a signing before a non-proliferation conference starts in late April.

Medvedev said on Sunday that the treaty was "95 percent" agreed. US officials have also expressed confidence a treaty could be ready in weeks.

US national security adviser James Jones and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen held talks in Moscow last week. Full negotiations are to resume in Geneva on Monday.

Last July, Obama and Medvedev agreed the new treaty should cut the number of nuclear warheads on each side to between 1,500 and 1,675. Officials have said the sides were still negotiating over verification measures, which Russia wants to be much less strict than under START.

Lyakin-Frolov indicated that one issue still being discussed was telemetry - the remote monitoring of missiles in launch and flight.

On the divisive issue of missile defence, Lyakin-Frolov said the United States must take Russia's interests into account in the negotiations but suggested the pact might not address the issue in detail.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last month that the United States should give Russia telemetry on anti-missile systems if it wants data on Russian offensive missiles, a potential deal-breaker because the US Senate is unlikely to ratify a pact encompassing missile defence.

Medvedev said on Sunday that Russia would raise the missile defence issue when talks resume.