MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Talks between Russian and U.S. experts to prepare documents for the Russia-U.S. summit in May began in Moscow on Monday.
The meeting is focused on putting the final touches to an arms reduction agreement.
Interfax has reported that the talks are as usual being held behind closed doors. They are being attended by diplomats and experts from the two countries' defense ministries.
The delegations are led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov and U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton.
This is the third Moscow meeting between these officials since late April.
The U.S. Embassy press service told Interfax that the talks are expected to last one day, but did not rule out that consultations between Russian and U.S. experts in Moscow may continue.
U.S. diplomats stressed that "should this prove necessary, these talks may last up to the Russia-U.S." summit scheduled for May 23-26 in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The talks between Mamedov and Bolton come ahead of a meeting between Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his U.S. counterpart Colin Powell in Reykjavik as part of a ministerial session of the Russia-NATO Permanent Joint Council on May 14-15. During their previous meeting on May 3 in Washington, Ivanov and Powell discussed preparations for the summit and an arms reduction agreement.
Sources told Interfax that the intensification of Russian- U.S. talks shows that the sides still have not resolved disputes on a number of issues, but are committed to achieving a compromise document by the summit.
The sources told Interfax that "the sides chiefly disagree on how future arms reductions could be accounted for and verified."
The sources said that Russia proposes reducing both the number of carriers and warheads, but the United States is committed to reducing only warheads.