MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia hopes to hold before December at least five rounds of talks with the United States on a new arms reduction deal to replace the existing START-1 treaty, the Russian foreign minister said Tuesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed in July in Moscow on the outlines of a final deal to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1), which expires on December 5.
"The latest round [of strategic arms reduction talks] was held at the beginning of September, and we are planning another 4 to 5 rounds by December when the START-1 treaty expires," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after a meeting with Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak in Moscow.
Lavrov reiterated that a new agreement to replace START-1 required a thorough and comprehensive approach and it would be premature to announce any details before the final deal is concluded.
"It will be a package deal. These talks are usually based on the principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," the minister said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said last Thursday that a new round of the talks would be held on September 21.
The START 1 treaty obliges Russia and the United States to reduce nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each. In 2002, a follow-up agreement on strategic offensive arms reduction was concluded in Moscow. The document, known as the Moscow Treaty, envisioned cuts to 1,700-2,200 warheads by December 2012.
Medvedev and Obama signed an agreement in July outlining the provisions of the new treaty, including cutting their countries' nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
According to a report published by the U.S. State Department in April, as of January 1 Russia had 3,909 nuclear warheads and 814 delivery vehicles, including ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers.
The same report said the United States had 5,576 warheads and 1,198 delivery vehicles.
