MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia and the United States decided on Tuesday to step up efforts to draft "a legally binding agreement on a drastic reduction of offensive armaments and a declaration on the formation of new strategic relations between Russia and the U.S."
The decision emerged during the second round of negotiations in Moscow on strategic armaments and missile defenses and on new strategic relations between the two countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The talks were based on "specific agreements reached between the presidents of the two countries" and were part of preparations for a planned Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow in May this year, the ministry said in a release.
The Russian and U.S. negotiators "discussed in concrete terms" drafts for the planned strategic weapons accord and declaration that Russia had introduced during the first round of talks. The Americans put forward their proposals.
The talks focused on the "strengthening of strategic stability and international security, nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation," the release said.
It said the next round is scheduled for March.
Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov was the chief Russian negotiator. Under Secretary of State John Bolton led the U.S. delegation.
Bolton also met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.