Moscow expects a new nuclear arms reduction...

Lavrov said President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. counterpart Barack Obama reaffirmed this linkage at their telephone talks on Wednesday.

"Our president and his American counterpart reaffirmed their agreements, and the negotiating teams in Geneva must heed the connection between strategic offensive weapons and defensive armaments," Lavrov said in an interview with satellite channel Russia Today, and state agencies RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia.

"We expect the American negotiators will set out this connection as it has been agreed on [by the presidents]," Lavrov said.

A senior Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday that parliament was unlikely to ratify the replacement of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired on December 5 last year, which does not include a link to missile defenses.

Konstantin Kosachyov, however, admitted the Russian demand would not be included in the new pact as the U.S. Senate would hardly approve any document containing a formal

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