The United States and Russia are closing in on a deal to observe the New START nuclear arms control treaty beyond its expiration on Thursday, Axios reported, citing three sources familiar with the talks.
The New START treaty, which set limits on each side's missiles, launchers, and strategic warheads, is the last in a series of nuclear agreements dating back more than half a century to the Cold War.
Negotiations had been underway in Abu Dhabi over the past 24 hours, but no agreement had been reached, Axios said, citing an additional source.
The White House had no immediate comment on the report, which followed a series of other developments in relations between the world's two biggest nuclear powers.
The US military's European Command said on Thursday the US and Russia had agreed in Abu Dhabi to resume a high-level military-to-military dialogue.
Also, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said peace talks with Russia, backed by the US, would resume soon after negotiators concluded a second round in Abu Dhabi.
The Axios report on New START said it was unclear whether the agreement to observe the treaty's terms for an additional period of time, possibly six months, would be enshrined in any formal way.
Kremlin seeks 'constructive replies'
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia was still ready to engage in dialogue with the US if Washington responded constructively to Moscow's proposal to continue abiding by the limits of the expiring New START nuclear treaty.
"Listen, if there are any constructive replies, of course, we will conduct a dialogue," Peskov told reporters.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, allowed a single five-year extension, agreed to by former President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Any new extension would require an executive decision to voluntarily extend the treaty's limits.
US President Donald Trump, who spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, wants to bring China into a nuclear reduction deal.
Beijing has so far declined negotiations with Moscow and Washington as it has a fraction of their warhead numbers - an estimated 600, compared to around 4,000 each for Russia and the US
The White House said this week that Trump would decide the way forward on nuclear arms control, which he would "clarify on his own timeline," but gave no further details.