A new nuclear arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States may yet be signed by December 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"There is a firm agreement between the [Russian and U.S.] presidents to do everything possible at the Geneva negotiations and sign a new treaty by the date of expiry of the current treaty," Lavrov said, adding that ratification of the deal would take some time.
Moscow and Washington are negotiating a replacement for the current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), the basis for Russian-U.S. strategic nuclear disarmament, which expires on December 5.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed the hope on Sunday that it would be possible to sign a new deal in December.
"We, indeed, devoted most of the time to discussing a treaty on the reduction of offensive armaments and recognized the need to provide additional impetus to these negotiations," Medvedev said after talks with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama at the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states in Singapore.
The chief of the Russian General Staff said earlier that the ongoing talks between Russia and the U.S. had thrown up differences on inspection and verification procedures.
An outline of the new pact was agreed during the Russian and U.S. presidents' bilateral summit in Moscow in July and includes cutting their countries' nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
START I commits the parties to reducing their nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each. In 2002, a follow-up strategic arms reduction agreement was concluded in Moscow. The document, known as the Moscow Treaty, envisioned cuts to 1,700-2,200 warheads by December 2012.
MOSCOW, November 17(RIA Novosti)
