Moscow and Washington will complete a new nuclear treaty in "the coming days", Russia's deputy foreign minister said Monday, amid intense anticipation of a breakthrough in the long-stalled talks.

"We are literally on the verge, I think this business will be completed in the coming days," Russian news agencies quoted Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

Ryabkov said however it was too early to say where the signing ceremony would take place.

Russia and the United States have missed several deadlines to agree a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which expired in December.

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday in Moscow the two nations were on "the brink" of signing the new document as "all of the major issues" had been resolved.

Russia's daily Kommersant quoted a diplomatic source as saying on Saturday, that the successor treaty would be signed in the Czech capital Prague in early April.

Russian media reports have already said the two countries would like to sign the final agreement in an Eastern European capital before the United States hosts a nuclear security summit from April 12-13.