'Russia, US reach deal on new arms pact'

Russia and the United States have agreed a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty, the Kremlin said yesterday, but the White House said that some issues still needed to be worked out.

"All documents for the signing of START have been agreed," said the Kremlin official, who asked not to be identified. The official said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama would decide when to sign it.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "We are very close to having an agreement on a START treaty, but we won't have one until President Obama and his counterpart Mr Medvedev have a chance to speak."

"There are still some things that need to be worked out," Mr Gibbs told a daily news briefing.

Asked later yesterday about that statement, a Kremlin official who spoke on condition of anonymity said "The deal is agreed on the whole but there are some technical details that still need to be resolved."

Both sides said the successor to the last major Cold War arms reduction pact would likely be signed in Prague, capital of a former Soviet satellite that is now in Nato.

Russian and US negotiators have been trying to hammer out a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) for almost a year. They missed an initial deadline of December 5, when START I expired.

The new pact is a crucial element of efforts to get Russian-US relations on track after years of tension that peaked following Russia's brief war with US-supported Georgia in 2008.

In a joint understanding last July, Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev said the treaty would reduce operationally deployed nuclear warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675 each, with a more specific ceiling to be determined in the negotiations.

The most recent treaty to cut the Cold War foes' nuclear weapons numbers, signed by former presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in 2002 before ties deteriorated, limited each side to 2,200 warheads each by the end of 2012.

US and Russian officials say they hope further cuts in the world's largest nuclear arsenals would send a signal to other nations that have or want atomic weapons, helping reduce the threat of armed conflict.

The START successor pact is a key goal for Mr Obama as he seeks to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions and promotes efforts to eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons.

The signing could take place around the anniversary of Mr Obama's April 5, 2009, speech in Prague offering his vision for reducing global nuclear arsenals.

"I anticipate that when we have something to sign it will be in Prague," Mr Gibbs said. Mr Medvedev is scheduled to visit Bratislava, in neighbouring Slovakia, on April 6-7.

Analysts say the treaty is in the Kremlin's interests as well as Washington's, estimating that Russia's aging arsenal will drop below 1,500 warheads in less than a decade.

Signing a major arms treaty with the US could help Russia bolster its image as a global power and improve relations with Washington amid persistent disputes on issues ranging from other weapons to trade and human rights.

But Russian officials - most prominently the powerful Prime Minister Putin - repeatedly cast doubt on the chances for a deal by suggesting that Moscow might not sign without US concessions on the divisive issue of missile defence.

The Kremlin has expressed concern that further cutting its offensive arsenal without binding the US to limits on defensive systems could upset the strategic balance in favour of Washington.

The July joint understanding said the treaty would include a provision on the relationship between offensive and defensive weapons. But as recently as this week, Russia's armed forces chief of staff suggested Moscow was not yet satisfied.