Geneva: The latest round of Russia-US talks
on renewing a key nuclear arms reduction treaty will enter
into a second week, a Russian diplomat said, a day after the
UN Security Council vowed to rid the planet of all nuclear
arms.
"They will go on until next week, until Friday," the
diplomat told agency, adding that there were no further details
at the moment.
Previous rounds of talks on the renewal of the Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which expires on December 5 had
lasted a maximum three to four days.
But a Russian diplomat had said at the start of talks on
Monday that this round would "last longer than expected with
the large delegations from each side."
The United States and Russia had agreed this year to seek
the replacement or renewal of START, marking the first
tangible step in the thaw in US-Russian relations heralded by
the Obama administration.
START, signed in 1991 just before the break-up of the
Soviet Union, bound both sides to deep cuts in their nuclear
arsenals.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he was
confident the United States and Russia would meet an
end-of-year deadline to agree on a replacement for START.
Bureau Report
