US security adviser in Moscow nuclear arms talks

Russia and the United States are scrambling to address disagreements over a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with a little over a month left until the existing agreement between the Cold War adversaries expires.

Despite the narrowing timeframe, both sides expressed optimism at the end of a day of negotiations Thursday between U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones and Russia's foreign minister, its Security Council head and a top Kremlin foreign policy adviser.

Meeting as the world awaited Tehran's response to a proposal backed by the U.S., Russia and other powers seeking to ease concerns that Iran could develop nuclear weapons, Jones and the Russians "affirmed their commitment to joint Russian-American efforts on Iran," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Chang said in a statement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in televised remarks he was "sure" Jones' "successful" visit would help forge a new arms reduction treaty. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said "intensive efforts" would be required to reach an accord but he struck a generally optimistic tone.

On leaving the Foreign Ministry, Jones told The Associated Press that the two had a "very good discussion on a number of bilateral issues." According to Chang, they agreed "to make every effort to fulfill their presidents' pledge to conclude negotiations for a new treaty by December."

President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed at a Moscow summit in July to cut the number of nuclear warheads each possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years.

But the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation recently noted several sticking points that may take negotiations into the 11th hour.

The obstacles include a divergence on the number of so-called delivery vehicles - a reference to missiles and bombers. Washington has reportedly proposed a limit of 1,100 such weapons platforms, while Russia wants less than half, a discrepancy too great to forge an agreement, the center concluded.

Other hurdles may include the issue of whether to include stockpiled weapons - those not operationally deployed - in the warhead count. The U.S. says no, while Russia would prefer blanket inclusion.

The U.S. has sought to separate the issue of arms reduction with plans to station a missile defense system in Central Europe, near Russia's western fringe, but Moscow - a bitter opponent of the idea - is unlikely to overlook them.

Referring to arms reduction and missile defense, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed "an objective interconnection between these two platforms of strategic stability has not disappeared," according to comments published Thursday in Russian daily Vremya Novostei. "It is wrong not to recognize this."

Jones' visit came as Iran was considering a U.N.-drafted plan on shipping the country's low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing - an attempt to curtail Iran's ability to make a nuclear weapon. Russia and the U.S. are among the nations urging Iran to end its defiance over its nuclear program, but they have disagreed on strategies and tactics to push Tehran into compliance with U.N. demands.