Russia says a third round of talks with the United States on reducing their nuclear arsenals will take place in Geneva on June 23 and 24.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Thursday that President Dmitri Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama are hoping to announce the talks' progress when Mr. Obama visits Moscow in early July.
The goal of the talks is to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) before it expires on December 5. Nestrenko told reporters the negotiations were proceeding in a "constructive" manner.
START I led to major reductions in the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenal at the end of the Cold War. Talks of finding a new agreement had made little progress under the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.