New START deal may be drafted prior to Obama's visit, says Kremlin

MOSCOW, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A new document to replace the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) may be drafted before the U.S. President Barack Obama visits Moscow in early July, Russian presidential spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, was quoting as saying on Tuesday.

"We are working on it, it is still too early to make any conclusions," Timakova, press secretary of President Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted by the local media as saying.

"Very active bilateral contacts have now been underway both at the level of the presidential administration and the Russian Foreign Ministry. I will not make categorical statements that we will be able to reach a more detailed agreement," the Interfax news agency quoted Timakova as saying.

Obama is scheduled to pay his first visit to Russia from July 6-8.

"The agenda of the visit is just being formed; issues that were raised by us and by our U.S. partners are being taken into consideration. The talks will be rather lengthy, in fact they will last for two days, and I think various issues will be touched upon," Timakova said.

Russia and the United States started on Monday their second round of full-format talks on the new treaty in Geneva.

The two sides described the first round of negotiations in Moscow on May 19-21 a "success," and agreed to submit the results of work on a new treaty by July.

The START, which is due to expire in December, places a limit of 6,000 strategic or long-range nuclear warheads on each side. The subsequent Moscow treaty calls for reducing nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the end of 2012.