"U.S., Russia Close To New Nuclear Deal: White House"

"MOSCOW/WASHINGTON -- Talks on a landmark treaty to cut Cold War nuclear arsenals are nearly complete, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed in a telephone call on Wednesday.

The call, which the Kremlin said was initiated by Washington, followed comments by Russian Foreign Ministry officials that negotiators from both countries were likely to agree on a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) within weeks.

'The heads of state in detail and objectively discussed topical issues pertaining to Russian-U.S. relations, including approaching signing, in the near future, a new treaty on strategic arms reduction,' official site kremlin.ru said."

Steve Gutterman, Amie Ferris-Rotman, Andrew Quinn, and Ross Colvin report for Reuters January 28, 2010.