The US and Russia have presumably started the final phase of their lengthy talks on the strategic arms reduction, a move that could produce a new nuclear disarmament treaty to replace the existing one.

The START I (the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), the basis for Russian-US strategic nuclear disarmament, is set to expire on December 5.

"The negotiations resumed this morning at the Russian mission and will last about a month until December 5," a Russian diplomat told AFP in Geneva on Monday.

Delegations from the two countries are divided into "four working groups on specific subjects," and should "meet alternately at the Russian mission and the American mission during this period," added the source.

The outlines of the new pact were agreed during a Moscow summit in July, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama accepted to reduce both countries' nuclear weapons to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.

The 1991 START I commits the parties to reduce their nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each.

In 2002, a follow-up strategic arms reduction agreement was concluded in Moscow. The document, known as the Moscow Treaty, envisioned cuts to 1,700-2,200 warheads by December 2012.

Analysts maintain that Obama's plan to dismantle a missile project in Eastern Europe which was devised by the former president George W. Bush has served as a momentum for the resumption of nuclear disarmament talks between former Cold War foes.

Moscow was strongly opposed to the US missile plan in Europe, saying the project would be a direct threat to its own national security.

RB/MMN