The United States said Tuesday it was approaching "the finish line" in talks with Russia on a new nuclear weapons disarmament treaty as negotiators prepared to resume talks.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley confirmed Russian accounts that negotiators from the two countries would meet Monday in Geneva to discuss a successor for the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
It is "hard to make any predictions in terms of what a timeline is, but I think we're reasonably optimistic that the finish line is within sight," Crowley told reporters.
START, which expired on December 5, was signed in 1991 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday that negotiations were going well, with the two sides in agreement on "95 percent of the issues."
Medvedev and US President Barack Obama have set a goal of reducing the nuclear warheads stockpile to between 1,500 and 1,675 for each country.
The presidents also agreed that the number of "carriers" capable of delivering the warheads should be limited to between 500 and 1,100.
The two nations said they saw progress during two days of closed-door talks last week in Moscow by National Security Advisor General James Jones and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
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