A much anticipated “reset summit” between Russia and the United States produced a deal to cut their nuclear arsenals by as much as a third yesterday — but exposed continued divisions over missile defence.

President Medvedev and President Obama ended a day of talks at the Kremlin by signing a “joint understanding” to reduce the number of warheads that they hold to between 1,500 and 1,675 each. The US currently has 2,200 operational warheads, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and Russia 2,790.

Mr Obama said that a final treaty to confirm the cuts would be signed by the end of the year, when the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) is due to expire. The two sides also pledged to reduce long-range missiles to between 500 and 1,100 each.

The new limits would be achieved within seven years of the treaty coming into force. However, they were cast in a more modest light by commitments already made in the 2002 Moscow treaty signed by the former presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin.

This requires America and Russia to cut their nuclear missile stockpiles to between 2,200 and 1,700 by 2012, just 25 more than the new agreement. Both sides talked up the significance of the deal as an important opening page in a new chapter of good relations between Washington and Moscow. But the manner of the two presidents spoke volumes about the cool state of relations.

Gone was the bluff bonhomie between Mr Bush and Mr Putin, replaced by a brisk businesslike mood between Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev, befitting their shared past as lawyers.

There were no jokes or attempts to personalise the relationship — instead simply declarations of agreement and of differences.

“The President and I agreed that the relationship between Russia and the United States has suffered from a sense of drift,” Mr Obama told reporters amid the gold-leafed splendour of St Andrew’s Hall in the Kremlin. “President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past.”

He added: “We resolved to reset US-Russian relations . . . today, after less than six months of collaboration \, we have done exactly that.”

With Mr Medvedev at his side, Mr Obama was asked whether he trusted his Russian counterpart. He replied: “Yes, I trust President Medvedev to not only listen and negotiate constructively but also to follow through on the agreements that are made.”

Mr Medvedev called their discussions “very useful and very open”, adding that the deal on nuclear weapons was “a reasonable compromise”. He said: “I view it as a first but very important step in improving full-scale co-operation between our two countries, which would be to the benefit of both states.”

They remained divided, however, over US plans to site a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, which Russia regards as a threat to its security. Mr Obama insisted that it was directed against potential threats from Iran and North Korea and could not affect “a mighty Russian arsenal”.

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