"We are at the end of the final straight and we hope that very soon the negotiators will announce that their work has been completed," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Russian and US negotiators have been holding talks in Geneva to agree a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired in December, but have so far failed to reach a final agreement.

"We are making substantial progress on the new START treaty, that's the word from our negotiators in Geneva," added Clinton.

"And the results of the latest negotiation rounds lead us to believe we'll be reaching a final agreement soon," she said.

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