Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is
scheduled to meet with his US counterpart Barack Obama on
Sunday in Singapore to discuss the bilateral issues including
differences over the draft of a new nuclear disarmament
treaty, a top Kremlin official said on Friday.
"At their meeting the two presidents will analyse the
implementation of their directives and instructions issued
after their July talks in Moscow, in particular, the analysis
of the progress in the negotiations on the new pact to replace
expiring START treaty," Kremlin foreign policy aide Sergei
Prikhodko said.
At their Moscow summit, Medvedev and Obama had instructed
their negotiators to draft the new arms control pact by
December 5, when the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
(START) signed by the former USSR and the US is due to expire.
Medvedev is due to meet Obama on the sidelines of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore.
Kommersant daily yesterday reported about deadlock in the
talks in Geneva over new pact as the US was seeking to retain
a provision from the START on US monitoring of Russia`s mobile
land-based Topol missiles forming the backbone of Moscow
nuclear deterrence.
"We are working to prepare the treaty on time set by the
presidents," Prikhodko told reporters ahead of Medvedev`s
departure for Singapore.
Bureau Report
