Clinton in Moscow to push arms treaty, Middle East

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also in Moscow for a Friday meeting of Middle East mediators, urged Russia and the United States to sign the new arms control pact "as soon as possible" during talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.

President Barack Obama has tried to "reset" relations with Russia after a stormy period under his predecessor George W. Bush. But his administration needs results from its initiatives to counter Republican charges he is too soft on Moscow.

Clinton's 36-hour visit to Russia includes Friday's meeting of the Middle East quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- and talks with Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on arms control and Iran.

Russian and U.S. teams have been negotiating for nearly a year on a successor to the 1991 START I treaty cutting arsenals of nuclear weapons by up to a third. Lavrov said Tuesday that they could have a deal ready for signing by early April.

"We are making very good progress. I can't predict to you exactly when the agreement will be completed but ... we are getting closer," Undersecretary of State William Burns told reporters as Clinton flew to Moscow.

Shortly before Clinton was to meet with Lavrov Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said the arms pact was almost complete.

"Most, practically all of the fundamental part (of the treaty) is already agreed," Nesterenko told reporters.

He said negotiators were resolving "specific technical issues," largely involving a hefty annexe to the agreement and questions of translation.

Medvedev and Obama pledged last year to cut each nation's deployed nuclear warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675 but trust between the two former Cold War foes remains elusive.

Talks on a new treaty have bogged down in recent months over Russian concerns about U.S. plans for anti-missile systems in eastern Europe and disagreements over how to count and verify warheads.

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

U.N. chief Ban urged the Cold War foes to act fast and sign an agreement before a nuclear disarmament summit Obama is hosting in mid-April. That will be followed by a May conference on nuclear proliferation.

"I expect and sincerely hope that you and U.S. President Obama will sign the START treaty as soon as possible," Ban told Medvedev. Medvedev replied in English: "I hope so."

World powers hope both nuclear meetings will help stem the spread of atomic weapons and rein in the ambitions of nations such as Iran and North Korea.

The United States also hopes to win Moscow's backing for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is intended to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies this.

Medvedev earlier this month promised support for "smart" sanctions against Tehran which are not aimed at civilians, but Moscow has long been reluctant to agree to punitive measures against a traditional ally and trading partner.

Clinton was to meet Medvedev Friday but officials said there were no plans for her to see Russia's most powerful politician, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Putin was away in China during Clinton's last visit in October and was on a day trip to the Russian provincial city of Volgodonsk Thursday. "There were no requests from the U.S. side (for a meeting)," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

On Middle East issues, U.S. officials were circumspect about the prospects for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Middle East quartet discussions -- a dinner Thursday night and Friday's formal session -- are designed to show international backing for indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians that the United States announced last week.

However, the launch of negotiations has been marred by a rare, public U.S.-Israeli dispute over Israel's plan to build 1,600 homes for Jews in a part of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem.

Clinton has described the announcement -- made while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel last week -- as insulting.

She had made a series of demands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the housing project itself and on showing his commitment to the indirect peace talks that the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to only last week.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters that Netanyahu had yet to telephone Clinton with his response, a step that he said the United States wanted before its peace envoy George Mitchell returns to the Middle East for a trip he has repeatedly put off.

(Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney, Steve Gutterman and Dmitry Sergeyev; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan)