U.S. and Russian members of parliament will...

Disagreements over verification and control procedures prevented Moscow and Washington from signing a new deal before the New Year break to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), which expired on December 5.

The U.S. capital will host the nuclear security summit on April 12-13.

"The work on the text [of a new treaty] is almost completed. After the presidents sign the treaty... it will be the task of the [U.S.] Senate and Russia"s Federal Assembly... to ratify the agreement," Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia"s upper house of parliament, said.

The Russian and U.S. presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, ordered a speedy completion of the deal last week. A new round of talks on the treaty began on Monday.

On Wednesday, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said Russia and the United States may sign the new pact in March or April.

Margelov, who had arrived in Washington on Wednesday

Pages: [1] 2 3