The United States and Russia announced progress today in talks aimed at a nuclear arms cuts agreements but gave no assurances an accord would be ready for a May summit.
"My personal belief is today we have reached certain progress," Russian Defence Minister Mr Sergei Ivanov said after talks with US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr Rumsfeld said: "We are making progress, and the meetings will continue later this week in Washington."
The two men refused to say whether any agreement had been reached on Russia's opposition to plans by Washington to store, instead of destroy, hundreds of nuclear warheads to be removed as the two countries cut their arsenals of some 6,000 warheads each by two-thirds over the next decade.