Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama have signed a declaration which will lead to both nations cutting their nuclear arsenals.
According to the White House, it was agreed cut deployed nuclear warheads within seven years of a new arms reduction agreement coming into force.
The new agreement would replace the 1991 START accord.
‘Within seven years after this treaty comes into force, and in future, the limits for strategic delivery systems should be within the range of 500-1,100 units and for warheads linked to them within the range of 1,500-1,675 units,’ according to the framework agreement.
The deal was agreed during talks between the two leaders at the Kremlin.
Estimates of current nuclear stockpiles vary but the US-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimated that at the start of 2009 the US had around 2,200 operationally deployed nuclear warheads and Russia around 2,790.
Making his first visit to Russia as president, Mr Obama earlier stepped off Air Force One into an unseasonably cold Moscow accompanied by his two daughters and wife Michelle.
Both sides have repeatedly used the slogan of pressing 'the reset button' to lift a relationship that sank to a post-Cold War low under the presidency of George W Bush amid a series of rows capped by Russia's war with Georgia.
Russia has also agreed to let the US fly troops and weapons across its territory to Afghanistan, a move hailed by Washington as a valuable contribution towards helping its forces in the region.
The deal permits up to 4,500 military flights per year, or about 12 per day, which can be loaded with troops, firearms, ammunition, military vehicles and spare parts, a senior US official said.
There are also plans for a bilateral commission to cooperate on energy, fighting terrorism and drug-trafficking.
