Hillary Clinton, who has been nominated to the post of U.S. Secretary of State, hopes to achieve progress in relations with Russia on problems of nuclear disarmament and the START Treaty, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The U.S. diplomat said that, so far as they know, Ms. Clinton hopes to achieve progress with the Russian leaders on a new START Treaty (the current START Treaty expires in December 2009) and on a further nuclear arms reduction. Besides, he continued, Ms. Clinton would like to cooperate with Russia on problems of nuclear non-proliferation in North Korea and Iran.

He did not specify the date of Ms. Clinton’s visit to Moscow. He said that, since Hillary Clinton has not been approved secretary of state, they know nothing about her plans for the near future. The U.S. Senate meeting in full strength is expected to approve Hillary Clinton’s appointment within a few days.