Hillary Clinton in Moscow for Mideast, arms talks

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Moscow on Thursday to discuss a new nuclear arms reduction deal and participate in a meeting of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators, RIA Novosti said.

During her March 18-19 visit, Clinton will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on the final stages of a deal to replace the START 1 arms control treaty.

Russia and the U.S. have been negotiating the arms reduction pact since the two countries' presidents met last April, but progress has been slow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Clinton and Lavrov would also discuss the Iranian nuclear issue and Russian-U.S. cooperation in Afghanistan., as well as Friday’s meeting of the Middle Quartet on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The Quartet is made up of Russia, The U.S., the EU and the UN.

Aside from Clinton and Lavrov, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton and the Quartet's special representative, former British prime minister Tony Blair, will attend the meeting.