Russia and the US are close to agreement on a new START nuclear arsenal cut treaty, according to Andrei Nesterenko, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman.

"We hope that all remaining issues will be settled in the near future, maybe even within the next few hours," the Interfax news agency quoted Andrei Nesterenko as telling the reporters.

The diplomat added that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, were expected to discuss "the course of the negotiating process and the prospects of its completion" during their meeting in Copenhagen on Friday.

Nesterenko said negotiators from both countries had "accomplished a huge amount of work" at the Geneva-based talks.

President Obama said Friday that the two sides are "quite close" to concluding a new version of the pact.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Thursday accused the United States of slowing down the nuclear disarmament talks in Geneva, adding that the new START was unlikely to be signed in Copenhagen at the end of this week.

Officials on both sides previously voiced hope that the deal could be clinched before the year's end.

START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a bilateral treaty first signed between the United States of America and the USSR on the Reduction and Limitation of Nuclear Arms. The treaty entered into force on 5 December 1994.

The final full implementation of START in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 % of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence.

The treaty was set to expire on 5 December 2009, but currently remains in force indefinitely pending agreement on a successor, since the two countries failed to reach agreement on a new pact until the deadline.