The Russian and U.S. presidents discussed...

"The heads of state have, by an already established tradition, held a regular exchange of views on the situation in the final stages of preparation of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Both sides expressed satisfaction with the high level of agreement in the major provisions of the draft treaty. It was underlined that it is now possible to talk about specific dates for the submission of the draft START treaty for signing by the heads of state," the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

It added that presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama agreed during their telephone conversation to give additional instructions to the negotiating teams and discussed plans for bilateral contacts in the near future.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Moscow on Thursday and is expected to discuss the arms reduction pact with her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov and Clinton will attend Friday"s meeting of the Quartet

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