Russia urges U.S. to renew arms treaty

TOYAKO, Japan, July 6 (UPI) -- An expiring 17-year-old strategic arms agreement between Russia and the United States could be renewed by the end of the year, a Russian official said Sunday.

But, warned government spokesman Sergei Prikhodko on the eve of the Group of Eight summit in Japan, there has been little evidence the administration of U.S. President George Bush is moving toward renewing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, RIA Novosti reported.

"We hope that George Bush will be able during the remaining period of his stay in the White House to reverse the situation to reach mutually acceptable accords already by the end of the year," Prikhodko said. "The entire international community is expecting this from us."

Bush and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are scheduled to meet this week during the G8 summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The treaty, also called START-1, was signed by former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and the Soviet Union in 1991. It expires Dec. 5, 2009.