Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama could sign a new deal on cutting nuclear arsenals in Europe next week, a newspaper report said on Friday.
The new agreement — the successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired on December 5 — could be signed by the two leaders on December 18-19 in a European capital, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.
Both men are to attend the climax of the UN climate summit in Denmark but the new arms deal would be signed "not in Copenhagen but in another European capital," the paper quoted a source close to the foreign ministry as saying.
Officials from both sides have expressed confidence in reaching a new agreement for major arms cuts despite failing to seal a deal before the old treaty expired earlier this month.
Russian news agencies reported meanwhile that Russian and US negotiators would be continuing talks on the new deal next week.
"The arms talks will continue next week" in Geneva, a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by all Russian news agencies.
The Russian delegation would be led by the foreign ministry's director for disarmament Anatoly Antonov while Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller would lead the US side, the official said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday both sides were working hard on the negotiations and it was merely a question of when the new accord would be agreed.
Medvedev and Obama in July set as a goal slashing the number of warheads on either side to between 1,500 and 1,675 and the number of "carriers" capable of delivering them to between 500 and 1,100.
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