U.S. officials say substantial progress is being made on U.S.-Russia arms negotiations, paving the way for possible agreements at an upcoming summit of leaders. 

U.S. negotiator Undersecretary of State John Bolton says so much progress has been made on offensive weapons and a new strategic framework that President Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin may sign agreements on both at their planned Moscow summit in May. 

Mr. Bolton met with Russian negotiator Georgy Mamedov in Geneva last week. Secretary Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will also discuss arms issues when they meet in Madrid in the second week of April. 

The two sides have agreed to reduce the number of strategic warheads to levels between 1,700 and 2,200 each by 2012. However, the two sides have yet to agree on a counting method. Previous agreements were based on the number of warhead delivery systems and not the number of warheads. 

The United States also has concerns over suspicions Russia is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons. However, Mr. Bolton is quoted as saying that in their global threat assessments the United States and Russia generally worry about the same countries. 

To deal with threats from so-called rogue states, the United States has been pushing for the development of a national missile-shield system despite criticism from Russia that it could lead to a new international arms race. 

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