Russia said on Wednesday the landmark Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) must be replaced with a formal, binding pact when it expires in 2009 and not the informal arrangement that the United States proposes.

Russia’s top general said on Wednesday compromise proposals Washington has offered to Moscow on its planned missile defense shield were not constructive, local news agencies reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may on Wednesday make an important announcement about the presidential election, the speaker of the upper house of parliament told reporters.