Obama, Medvedev hold 'constructive' arms deal phone call

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev had a "constructive" telephone call on Wednesday in which they discussed signing a landmark nuclear arms deal "in the near future", the Kremlin said.

"The heads of state in detail and objectively discussed topical issues pertaining to Russian-US relations, including approaching signing in the near future of a new treaty on strategic arms reduction," the Kremlin said on its site. It added the telephone call was conducted in a "constructive" spirit and that the United States had initiated the conversation. (Reuters)