Russia, U.S. Close to Nuclear Pact: Report
"We count on resolving all the remaining questions in the very near future, if not hours," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters.
The world's two largest nuclear powers have been trying to find a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-I), the biggest pact to cut nuclear weapons in history.
A senior U.S. official said in Washington on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could reach an agreement in principle in Copenhagen on Friday, leaving negotiators to finalize a deal later.
The two leaders will meet in the Danish capital on the sidelines of a global climate change conference.
Nesterenko declined to confirm a report from the Interfax news agency that said the negotiators had reached agreement on the outline of a new treaty.
Interfax quoted an unidentified diplomatic source as saying: "The provisions of a new START agreement are agreed and there will be an official announcement in the near future."
Russia called on Thursday for simpler verification procedures for planned cuts in nuclear weapons arsenals, while Washington insisted it wanted a deal that worked for both former Cold War foes.
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