Medvedev, Obama agree to bring forward strategic arms deal

In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama agreed to instruct their negotiators in Geneva to intensify work towards a successor to the 1991 Soviet-American START 1 strategic arms reduction treaty, which expired on the 5^th of December.

The work is in line with understandings at a July Moscow summit and in a Kremlin-White-House conversation on the telephone on the 27^th of January. President Medvedev was quoted as saying the new treaty must be legally binding and covering every aspect and detail of the nuclear arsenals on the two sides. He said small businesses can clinch deals in a matter of minutes, while superpowers bargaining over strategic arms may need months or even years for this.

The signing of the new treaty is likely to take place this year in a small country in Europe. The Kremlin says the Czech Republic is a possible choice