Powell expects arms pact from summit

MOSCOW -- Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed certainty Sunday that President Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin would sign an agreement on nuclear arms cuts when they meet later this month, a news report said.

"I am sure that when President Bush comes to Moscow, the agreement will be signed," the Interfax news agency quoted Powell as saying in an interview to be broadcast later Sunday on Russia's ORT television.

A new agreement on weapons reductions is to be a centerpiece of Bush's May 23-26 visit to Russia. The agreement is to outline cuts to 1,700-2,200 long-range warheads each, down from the 6,000 currently allowed under the 1991 START I treaty.

However, negotiators so far have been unable to overcome a major sticking point: what to do with the decommissioned warheads. Moscow wants them to be destroyed, while Washington insists on storing them in case of radical changes in the security environment in the future.

U.S.-Russian consultations have intensified in recent weeks in preparation for the summit.

Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov spoke on the telephone on Thursday and Friday, the Foreign Ministry said.

The two are to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where they will attend a meeting intended to elaborate a new relationship between NATO and Russia.

On Monday, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton is scheduled to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov in Moscow to work on the arms cuts deal.