PARIS -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia and the United States are getting close to reaching a deal on reducing their nuclear arsenals in a follow-up to the now-expired START treaty.
Medvedev, speaking on a visit to the French capital, Paris, said negotiators who have been working on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, are "close to agreement on practically all questions" and that the "final part of negotiations" has been entered.
Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed last year that the new treaty must cut deployed warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675 on both sides.
Russian and U.S. negotiators have been continuing work to agree a new treaty after failing to agree one before December 5, when START expired.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says the next round of negotiations is due to begin on March 9.
compiled from agency reports