Russia, US won't sign new START pact by Dec 5

Russia and the United States are unlikely to sign a new START Treaty to curb strategic nuclear weapons by the Dec. 5 deadline and talks will continue, Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The report is the first signal that negotiators will be unable to bridge the differences between Moscow and Washington on the detailed terms of the new pact by the deadline set by the presidents of both countries in July.

Both sides say efforts to agree cuts in their nuclear arsenals are a major step towards "resetting" relations after they cooled to post-Cold War lows.

"By the 5th of December when the START Treaty expires, the Russian and American sides, most likely, will not sign a new agreement and talks in Geneva, in all probability, will continue after this date," the source was quoted as saying on Friday.

Talks have been held in Geneva to hammer out differences over replacing the START Treaty, with the new treaty expected to cut the number of nuclear warheads and to set out the terms for how both sides can verify the terms are being kept.

Last July, the leaders set out the framework for the new treaty, which they said should restrict deployed strategic warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675 while limiting the number of delivery platforms to between 500 and 1,100.