The FINANCIAL -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ahead of her upcoming visit to MOSCOW she expected the replacement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1) to be signed soon, according to RIA Novosti.

Clinton will travel to MOSCOW on March 18-19 for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and to attend the meeting of the Quartet of international mediators in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"I'm optimistic that we'll be able to complete this agreement soon. It's a technically very complex treaty to accomplish. We share an interest in making real reductions in our strategic arsenals, and that is the most important point," Clinton said in an interview with The New Times published on March 15.

"To do that in a way that is verifiable, but which is less costly and less operationally complex than the previous START agreement is the key challenge, and we are working through it together," she told the MOSCOW -based paper.

Russia and the United States have been negotiating issues of the arms reduction pact since the two countries' presidents met in April last year, but signing a document has dragged on, with U.S. plans for missile defense in Europe a particular sticking point.

Moscow wants to include a link between missile defenses and cuts in offensive weapons, but the U.S. Senate is unlikely to ratify any document formally linking the two issues.

START 1, the cornerstone of post-Cold War arms control, expired on December 5.

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