Russia and the United States have made progress in reaching a new treaty on nuclear arms reduction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

The two countries have held several rounds of full-fledged talks on a replacement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) since Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met U.S. President Barack Obama in London in early April.

The two presidents are to meet again on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Pittsburg on Sept. 25.

"We will have something to report by the Pittsburg meeting," Lavrov said.

The foreign minister said that he believed a new deal would be ready by the end of the year.

Lavrov, however, also said Russia and the U.S. still need to settle complicated issues such as the quantity of prospective weapons that would would be permitted under a new accord.

START I, signed in 1991 and due to expire in December, places a limit of 6,000 strategic or long-range nuclear warheads on both countries and allows the inspection of weapons.

Medvedev and Obama signed a framework document on additional reductions and limitations of strategic offensive arms during their Moscow summit in early July.

The document says each country plans to cut nuclear warheads to 1,500 to 1,675 "within seven years to come."

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)