Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama are still aiming to prepare a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by early December, when the original pact is set to expire, Moscow indicated Saturday (see GSN, Oct. 20).
The leaders agreed in July to cut their nations' respective deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads under the new agreement, down from the 2,200-warhead limit the states are required to meet by 2012. The leaders also agreed to restrict strategic delivery vehicles on each side to between 500 and 1,100.
Speaking by telephone on Saturday, Medvedev and Obama discussed developments in ongoing efforts to negotiate the new agreement, RIA Novosti reported.
"Satisfaction was expressed with the intense dialogue carried out by the delegations of the two countries, and with the level of understanding reached," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian and U.S. diplomats last week began their latest session aimed at hammering out details of the START replacement. The talks were led by Russian Foreign Ministry security and disarmament chief Anatoly Antonov and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller (RIA Novosti, Oct. 24).