Russia, US close to signing arms reduction pact: Kremlin

Moscow, March 14 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The Russian and US presidents have discussed the negotiations on a new strategic arms reductions treaty and said it was possible to talk about a date for the deal to be signed, the Kremlin said.

"The heads of state have, by an already established tradition, held a regular exchange of views on the situation in the final stages of preparation of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)," the Kremlin press service said in a statement Saturday.

"Both sides expressed satisfaction with the high level of agreement in the major provisions of the draft treaty. It was underlined that it is now possible to talk about specific dates for the submission of the draft START treaty for signing by the heads of state," it said.

It added that presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama agreed during their telephone conversation to give additional instructions to the negotiating teams and discussed plans for bilateral contacts in the near future.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Moscow Thursday and is  expected to discuss the arms reduction pact with her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov and Clinton will attend Friday's meeting of the quartet of international mediators in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Russia and the US have been negotiating a replacement to the START since Medvedev and Obama met in April last year, but finalising a document has dragged on, with US plans for missile defence in Europe a particular  sticking point. START 1, the cornerstone of post-Cold War arms control, expired Dec 5.

Lavrov has repeatedly made statements suggesting that a new nuclear arms cuts deal should be linked to Washington's missile plans in Eastern Europe.

Many experts believe, however, that the Russian demand will probably not be satisfied as the US Senate is unlikely to ratify any document containing a formal linkage between the arms cuts and the missile shield.

Obama scrapped plans last year for interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic pursued by his predecessor as protection against possible Iranian strikes in an apparent move to ease Russian security concerns.

In February, however, Romania and Bulgaria said they were in talks with the Obama administration on deploying elements of the US missile shield on their territories from 2015, triggering an angry reaction from Moscow.