US-Russia arms treaty talks next month

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MOSCOW, April 28 (AFP): Russian and US officials will meet in Moscow next month for the first round of negotiations to replace a Cold War-era nuclear arms control treaty, the Russian foreign ministry said Monday.
The two sides "agreed to organise the first round of negotiations of the two full delegations between May 18 and May 20," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this month US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev pledged to seek a successor agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) by the time it expires in December.
The dates for the talks were set during the first official contact in Rome last Friday which aimed to pave the way for opening negotiations following instructions from the US and Russian leaders.
The Russian foreign ministry said the Rome meeting took place in a "constructive atmosphere".
"There was a detailed and frank exchange of views on the character of the future agreement. The main problems to be resolved at future negotiations were pointed out," the ministry statement said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will also discuss START during a meeting in Washington on May 7 and again on May 19 in Brussels as part of the Russia-NATO talks, the US ambassador to Russia John Beyrle told Echo of Moscow radio.
Negotiations on the treaty-seen as a cornerstone of strategic arms control-made little progress under former US president George W Bush.
Signed in 1991, START placed strict limits on the number of missiles and warheads in the US and Russian nuclear arsenals, leading to steep reductions in the nuclear arsenals of both sides. But the agreement expires on December 5 of this year.