Russia hopes for an "acceptable" arms reduction deal with the United States, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, one day before the two countries start the first round of full-format arms talks, Xinhua reported.
Russia expected "a fruitful exchange of views and approaches," which allows the two countries to come to "mutually acceptable agreements," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The U.S. plan to deploy a missile shield system in Central Europe is also likely to be discussed during the talks, said the top Russian diplomat.
The Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START I), which is due to expire in December, places a limit of 6,000 strategic or long- range nuclear warheads on each side. The subsequent Moscow treaty called for reducing nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the end of 2012.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, at their first meeting in London early April, agreed to work out a replacement for the START I by the end of the year.
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