Article Posted on : - Nov 02, 2009

A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia and US will continue to negotiations on replacement pact for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) deal on November 9, which is expiring on December 5 this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday, according to a media report.

"On October 19-30, a regular round of Russia-U.S. talks on a new accord to replace the strategic arms reduction treaty was held in Geneva. The parties continued intensive work to approve the text of a new agreement, bearing in mind that in accordance with the instructions of the presidents of both countries it must be signed by December 5, 2009," RIA Novosti quoted Foreign Ministry saying in a statement.

The Russian delegation in Geneva is headed by Anatoly Antonov, director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Security and Disarmament, while the U.S. team of negotiators is led by Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller.

The outlines of the new pact were agreed during the U.S. and Russian presidents' summit in Moscow in July and include cutting both countries' nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000, it said.

The current treaty binds Russia and the United States to reduce the number of deployed carriers to no more than 1,600 and the number of warheads to no more than 6,000. Both countries want the new deal to improve on the 2002 Treaty of Moscow, which will cut deployed warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 on each side by 2012.