Hillary Clinton last night predicted that the United States and Russia would sign a new arms reduction treaty this year, after two hours of talks in Geneva with her opposite number Sergei Lavrov.

Mrs Clinton rounded off her first visit to Europe as Secretary of State with an upbeat assessment of a “fresh start” with Moscow, having partly blamed President Bush’s antagonistic attitude for the poor relations of recent years.

Mr Lavrov agreed that a new weapons treaty was possible this year. The Times disclosed last month that the Obama Administration was aiming for an 80 per cent cut in American and Russian nuclear weapons.

After vice-President Biden’s call for the countries to “press the reset button”, Mrs Clinton broke the ice by handing Mr Lavrov a block with a red button marked “reset”.

Mr Obama needs Russia’s help to solve some of America’s biggest strategic goals, restraining Iran, defeating the Tale-ban in Afghanistan and cutting nuclear weapons.

Mr Lavrov spoke warmly of “a new opportunity to forge strong bilateral relationships.”He defended Russia’s sale to Iran of medium range missiles. “These issues are decided exclusively within the law and Russian national regulations,” he said.

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