MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States could reach an agreement on strategic arms reduction by December, a Russian deputy foreign minister said on Friday.

    "We have enough time before December to work out a serious and detailed document," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a press conference.

    "With political will, all this is quite achievable, and signals from Washington show that they are also determined to move towards such an agreement, which is a positive sign," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

    Ryabkov said Russia was willing to cooperate with the United States on the missile defense shield on an equal basis.

    "We are ready for cooperation on the missile shield, but not as a draft horse that is harnessed and pulls a cart in the direction set by others," he said.

    The diplomat also said Moscow was pinning great hopes on an upcoming meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama scheduled for April 1 in London.

    Russian-U.S. relations have sank to a post-Cold War low due to the U.S. missile shield plans, Russia's brief war with Georgia last August and NATO's eastward expansion. Both Moscow and Washington have expressed willingness to reset bilateral relations since Obama took office in January.

    The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1991, places a limit of 6,000 strategic or long-range nuclear warheads on each side.

    Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed on a work plan aimed at renewing the START, which is due to expire this December.