Obama, right, has said he wants to 'reset relations' between Russia and the US [AFP]

Officials have approved the text of a declaration to be signed by the presidents, that will pave the way for replacing a key Cold War-era disarmament treaty, the Interfax news agency reported.

The signing of a framework to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-I) is expected to be one of the main outcomes of talks between Obama and Medvedev.

Obama arrived in the Russian capital on Monday to take part in a two-day summit.

The broad aim is to reduce the number of deployed warheads below the 1,700-2,200 allowed under START-I, which expires in December.

But officials have said that the two sides are still some distance from a new treaty, with the new declaration expected to only set guidelines for negotiators.

"There certainly won't be an agreement on the end deal ...  but I think you will see an announcement that indicates some progress toward reaching that objective," Gary Samore, a White House arms control specialist, said.

'Common interests'

Obama, who is making his first official visit to Moscow, has said he intends to restore friendly ties between Russia and the US.

"I seek to reset relations with Russia because I believe that Americans and Russians have many common interests," he told Novaya Gazeta, the Russian opposition newspaper, on the eve of his visit.

He said there were "interests that our governments recently have not pursued as actively as we could have".

While Obama hopes to keep building pragmatic ties with Medvedev, his introduction to Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's predecessor and current Russian prime minister, is likely to be more strained.

Obama set the stage with a pre-trip assessment that Putin still had "one foot" planted in the Cold War.

Putin, who still has a significant role in Russian politics, rejected the criticism and insisted it was US policy that needed to be updated.

Obama is also expected to win the Kremlin's consent to ship weapons to Nato forces in Afghanistan across Russian territory.

Crucial corridor

The transit deal will open up a crucial corridor for the US as it steps up its fight against the Taliban in line with Obama's new Afghanistan strategy.

Deep divisions persist over US missile defence, Nato expansion and the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

Obama acknowledged in the Novaya Gazeta interview that there were "Russian sensitivities" over the proposed US anti-missile shield.

But he made clear he would not accept any effort by Moscow to link arms-control talks to missile defence.

Moscow, which sees proposed missile-defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic as a threat to its security, has insisted in recent weeks that the two issues are inseparable.

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