Obama, Medvedev Agree on Multiple Issues

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have signed what they call a "joint understanding" to negotiate a new arms control treaty that would set substantially lower levels of nuclear warheads for both countries.

The deal would replace a nuclear arms treaty that expires in December.

Meeting in Moscow, the two presidents hailed their new approach on arms control. They set a goal of negotiating new limits of between 1,500 and 1,675 deployed strategic warheads. That compares with a current limit of between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads.

They also said their negotiators would work out new limits on the bombers, land-based missiles and submarined-based missiles that carry such warheads. The new limit on those vehicles would be between 500 and 1,100. The current limit is 1,600.

This was one of eight agreements to come out of the extended meetings on the first day of the Moscow summit. The two leaders also signed a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to fighting terrorists and drug traffickers in Afghanistan. The White House said the U.S. and Russian leaders also vowed to press forward jointly with bettering the Afghan economy, social structures and living standards.

Defeating Taliban and al-Qaida allied militants in Afghanistan is one of Obama's top foreign policy objectives. The Russians have shown considerable sympathy for the administration's drive, particularly because the illicit flow of opium and heroin that is plaguing the Russian federation.

The Russians also are deeply concerned about the expansion of Islamic extremism in the former Soviet republics that border Afghanistan.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and his Russian counterpart also signed an outline for renewed military contacts. The White House announced that the two nations plan 20 exchanges and meetings this year. For example, Russian military cadets will come to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The two countries also plan a joint exercise to respond to a plane hijacking.

U.S. and Russian relations were at a low point following the August 2008 conflict in Georgia.

There was no breakthrough on missile defense issues, but they did announce a further review of possible ways to cooperate on missile defense.