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Russia and US begin further disarmament talks
May 18, 2009, 16:01 GMT
Moscow - A team of US disarmament experts was expected in Moscow on Monday, ahead of the opening of a further round of disarmament talks which could lead to cuts in the two countries' nuclear arsenals.
The US team, led by Russia- and disarmament expert Rose Gottemoeller, is to engage in talks beginning Tuesday with Russian officials in search of an agreement to reduce the current level of nuclear weaponry possessed by both sides - including some 6,000 nuclear warheads and 1,600 carrier missiles.
The aim is to create a successor agreement to the START agreements which run out at the end of 2009.
US President Barack Obama is due in Moscow on July 6 to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the disarmament issue.
In Prague in April, Obama made a major policy speech announcing his vision for a nuclear-free world.
The details of any forthcoming agreement are not yet clear. Russia is seen as particularly keen to achieve conventional military equality with the US, having fallen behind since the end of the Cold War.
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