U.S., Russia reach deal on cutting nuclear arsenals

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Friday to a sharp cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both nations in the most comprehensive arms control treaty in two decades.

Obama said the pact, to be signed April 8 in Prague, was part of his effort to "reset" relations with Russia and a step on a path toward "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

The agreement would require both sides to reduce their arsenals of long-range nuclear weapons by about a third, from 2,200 now to 1,500 each. The pact, replacing and expanding a 1991 treaty that expired in December, was a gesture toward improved U.S.-Russian relations that have been badly frayed.