Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and UN...

"I expect and sincerely hope that you and U.S. President [Barack] Obama will sign the START treaty as soon as possible," Ban said.

Medvedev replied in English: "I hope so."

The 1991 START 1 treaty, the cornerstone of post-cold war arms control, expired on December 5. Moscow and Washington have been negotiating a replacement for almost a year.

START 1 stipulated the size of deployment areas for mobile missile systems and the number of basing stations for rail missile systems. It also limited the number of missile systems that can be simultaneously deployed outside their deployment sites, and the duration of such deployment.

The outlines of the new pact were agreed during a meeting between Medvedev and Obama in Moscow in July 2009 and include cutting nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.

In February, Russian and U.S. officials said the agreement might be signed ahead of a nuclear nonproliferation

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