The money is intended to provide incentives to both the borrower and lender to enter into reduction agreements, such as by the support of interest payments.

Moscow has warned that that could jeopardize other treaties, including the two valuable nuclear arms reduction agreements negotiated by Mr. Bush's father a decade ago.

The ABM treaty remains the cornerstone of most subsequent arms reduction agreements.

Because of this schedule, officials said, it is possible that a reduction agreement would not come formally into force until some months after the summit meeting.

As I said coming back from Moscow, the reduction agreement now on the table is cosmetic only.

Isn't European security linked more to substantial arms reduction agreements than to NATO expansion?

Paul Nitze, former U.S. arms negotiator, has called for using the momentum to speed up more far-reaching arms reduction agreements.

Clearly, the Pentagon and the Administration see the arms reduction agreements as compatible with military budgets close to $300 billion.

We therefore welcome the commitment made by Presidents Medvedev and Obama to conclude a new reduction agreement in the near future.

A comprehensive ban would surely have spurred further arms reduction agreements.