U.S. President Barack Obama (R), first lady Michelle Obama (L) and daughters Sasha (2nd L) and Malia arrive at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, July 6, 2009. U.S. leader Obama landed in Moscow on Monday for his first visit to Russia as president, hoping to "reset" difficult relations between the two nations.(Xinhua/Reuters) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, July 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama arrived here Monday afternoon, starting his first visit to Russia since he took office in January.

    During the three-day visit that starts with the U.S. president laying a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin hall, Obama is scheduled to meet President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama step off Air Force One as they arrive in Moscow July 6, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters) Photo Gallery>>>

    Medvedev and Obama will focus on a new treaty on nuclear arms cuts during their meeting, Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Thursday.

    "High on the agenda will be a new strategic arms reduction treaty that will replace the old one. The two presidents will sum up the results of the work that had been done and will give instructions to further efforts," Nesterenko said.

    They are also expected to touch on the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East, he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) follows a Russian military honour guard as he prepares to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near Red Square in Moscow, July 6, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters) Photo Gallery>>>

    Medvedev and Obama will sign a memorandum of understanding on strategic arms reduction, Medvedev's foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said Friday.

    "It will be a framework document, which will outline benchmarks for further work on an agreement to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I)," Prikhodko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

    The document will be a politically binding agreement, not a legally binding one, Prikhodko said.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev meet as first lady Svetlana Medvedev looks on at the Kremlin in Moscow, July 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters) Photo Gallery>>>

    He said the presidents will also sign an agreement on the transit of military and other cargos to Afghanistan, a joint statement on Afghanistan and a joint declaration on nuclear cooperation.

    They will also sign a framework document on cooperation between the two armed forces, resuming "full-scale military contact" following a freeze since last August's war in Georgia, he said.

Obama kicks off visits to Russia, Italy, Ghana

    WASHINGTON, July 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday left for Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev in a bid to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia. He will then head to Italy for the G8 summit and visit Ghana.

    President Obama, accompanied by his family members and senior administration officials, will arrive in Moscow on Monday, his advisers told reporters on Wednesday at a press briefing. Full story

Report: U.S.-Russia arms reduction deal agreed

    MOSCOW, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The text of the framework strategic arms cut agreement which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama are supposed to sign has been fully agreed, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.

    "The text has been agreed," an unnamed source at the Russian Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying. Full story