Russia and the United States said today they had narrowed differences in two days of talks on a pact to cut nuclear arms which they hope to sign in May.
"We have reduced the field of our disagreements," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Georgy Mamedov, said at the end of talks in Geneva with US Undersecretary of State Mr John Bolton. It was their third meeting in recent weeks and they are to meet in Moscow later this month.
But he said there were still a number of important questions that would decide whether the negotiations will be completed in time for the (May) summit.
It was the third meeting between the two officials in recent weeks, and they are due to meet again in Moscow later in the month.
US President Mr George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Mr Vladimir Putin have said they want to slash their countries' strategic arsenals of between 6,000 and 7,000 nuclear warheads by some two-thirds by 2012.
They want to seal the deal, which will also include a declaration on the countries' new strategic relationship in a post-Cold War world, at their summit in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Mr Bolton also said the talks were productive though certain issues remained to be resolved.
He said US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov would continue the discussions in Madrid in early April.
