US/RUSSIA: The United States and Russia announced progress yesterday in negotiations towards an agreement on joint nuclear arms cuts, but gave no assurances that an accord would be ready in time for a May summit in Russia.
"I personally believe we have reached certain progress today," said the Russian Defence Minister, Mr Sergei Ivanov, who held more than two hours of talks with the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, on prospects for a new accord to slash stockpiles of nuclear warheads.
A nuclear arms deal has been billed as a potential highlight of the summit between President Vladimir Putin and President George W. Bush, which is planned to take place in Moscow and St Petersburg, starting on May 23rd.
But the two sides disagree about the Pentagon's plans to store, rather than destroy, hundreds of US warheads when they are removed from missiles and bombs.
Mr Rumsfeld, standing with Mr Ivanov at a joint news conference after talks at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, said: "As he [Mr Ivanov] indicated, we are making progress, and the meetings will continue later this week in Washington."
Mr Ivanov, in an opening statement, disclosed that Moscow had put forward "a set of new ideas" a few days ago which could form the basis of a future agreement.
He gave no details of the new proposals which were discussed with Mr Rumsfeld yesterday, but said they would be taken up again when Mr Ivanov meets the US Secretary of State