Moscow is convinced that the new Russia-U.S...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama will sign the pact on Thursday in Prague. The pact will replace the START 1 treaty, which expired on December 5.

The new treaty is broadly viewed as an important step in efforts by Medvedev and Obama to "reset" thorny relations between the U.S. and Russia.

Russian daily Kommersant said on Monday that the new Russian-U.S. arms reduction pact would face problems on its way to ratification.

"It is not a tragedy if the pact is not ratified [by the countries] at the same time. It is not a political issue," Sergei Prikhodko said.

Prikhodko added that both countries had demonstrated political will by drafting the document.

"We agreed through very difficult but sincere joint work. We have no doubts that the Russian State Duma and the U.S. parliamentarians [senators] will ratify it," Prikhodko said.

Russia and the United States began negotiating a strategic arms control pact after

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