President Bush says he will sign a landmark accord in Moscow this month that will dramatically reduce American and Russian nuclear arsenals over the next decade. 

The U.S. President told reporters Monday at the White House the agreement will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War. 

Under the accord, the two sides will slash nuclear arsenals from about 6,000 to about 2,000 warheads each. 

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Monday's agreement, which comes after months of negotiations. 

President Bush and President Putin are scheduled to meet for a summit in Moscow and St. Petersburg May 23-26. U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov have been working in Moscow to finalize the deal, which will require each country to cut its nuclear arsenal to 1,700-2,200 warheads. 

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the new treaty does not specify what should be done with warheads that are taken out of service. 

At a background briefing Monday, a senior U.S. administration official said that under the proposed treaty, some of the existing 6,000 nuclear warheads each side possesses will be dismantled, some could be stored as spares and others could be placed in deep storage. 

Russia had been opposed to the idea of any of the warheads being placed in storage. Russia was able to win U.S. approval to have the new accord structured as a treaty instead of an informal agreement. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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