Fri, 04 Dec 2009 9:24p.m.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says Moscow and Washington are close to finalising a successor deal to a Cold War-era arms control treaty.
The START I treaty signed in 1991 expires Friday. It obliged each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least a quarter, to about 6,000 and included detailed verification procedures to make sure each party complied.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed at a Moscow summit in July to cut the number of nuclear warheads each possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years as part of a broad new treaty. US and Russian negotiators are still grappling over details of the deal.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that the talks are drawing to a close.
AP