In a rare albeit implicit criticism of its U.S. counterparts, Moscow indicated on Tuesday that a new Russian-U.S. arms reduction deal could have been prepared earlier if negotiators had followed the principles laid out by the two sides.

"When everyone was saying that the presidents had issued instructions to prepare it [a new agreement] in December, that was feasible, had the negotiators followed the principles agreed upon by the presidents," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists on Tuesday.

"If they do this [now], this could be completed quite soon," he said replying to a question about when a new deal could be signed. "We believe that everything could be completed within the next two or three weeks."

Lavrov stressed that one of the key principles was the principle of parity.

He did not elaborate.

Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama have made replacing START 1, the cornerstone of post-Cold War arms control pact, part of their broader efforts to "reset" bilateral ties strained in recent years.

Officials have said an agreement between Russia and the United States to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired on December 5 last year, is nearly ready and could be struck in the next two or three weeks.

However, Moscow, which views U.S. plans to deploy elements of its missile defense system in Europe as a direct threat to its security, has said further cuts in offensive nuclear weapons will not be practical unless the sides put limits on nuclear defense projects, which could create an atmosphere of distrust.

Washington says the missile shield is needed to guard against potential Iranian strikes and would pose no threat to Russia, but in a clear move to ease Moscow's concerns, Obama last year scrapped plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.

In early February, however, Romania and Bulgaria said they were in talks with Obama's administration on deploying elements of the U.S. missile shield on their territories from 2015.

The new treaty's outline, as agreed on by the Russian and U.S. leaders, includes slashing nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.

MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)