Obama, Medvedev Optimistic On START Replacement

Obama, Medvedev Say They Still Plan To Have Replacement START Treaty Ready By Year's End

(AP)  SINGAPORE (AP) - President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev say they still plan to have a replacement START nuclear arms reduction treaty ready by year's end.

Obama and his Russian counterpart met Sunday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Russian and U.S. negotiators are working against a tight deadline. The current START agreement runs out Dec. 5.

Without mentioning specifics, Obama and Medvedev said technical and political issues remained to be hammered out.