MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - The first round of Russian-American expert-level consultations on preparing the new version of the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) will begin in Rome on Friday.

The START-1 treaty, signed in 1991, obliges Russia and the U.S. to reduce nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each. The treaty expires on December 5 this year.

The United States will be represented at the talks by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller and Russia by Anatoly Antonov, the director of the Foreign Ministry's department for security and disarmament.

The director of the North American Department at the Foreign Ministry, Igor Neverov, told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the discussions would continue on May 7 in Washington at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Earlier in the week during an official visit to Helsinki, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the new deal to replace START-1 must also cover delivery systems.

"In our view, the agreement to replace the START treaty should also limit the means of delivery of nuclear warheads, and not just the number of warheads. By this I mean intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers carrying nuclear loads," Medvedev said.

In 2002, an additional agreement on strategic offensive reduction was concluded in Moscow. The agreement, known as the Moscow Treaty, envisioned cuts to 1,700-2,200 warheads by December 2012.

Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed during their London meeting earlier this month on an immediate start to talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty.