Moscow expects a new nuclear arms reduction...

Lavrov said President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. leader Barack Obama reaffirmed this link in telephone talks on Wednesday.

"Our president and his American counterpart reaffirmed their agreements, and the negotiating teams in Geneva must heed a connection between strategic offensive weapons and defensive armaments," Lavrov said.

"We expect our American negotiators will set out this connection [in the new treaty] as it has been agreed on [by the presidents]," Lavrov said.

MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti)