Highly placed Government sources tell Fox News Russian and American arms negotiators struggling to reach a December 5th deadline to hammer out a new nuclear arms control agreement, have been able to reach an agreement which will be signed by the Presidents of their respective Country’s later this month.

President Obama will have a telephone conversation with his Russian counter part Russian President Medvedev Friday, to finalize the deal to replace the START Treaty which expires December 5th.

In principal both sides have agreed to reduce the numbers of nuclear war heads in each arsenal down to about 1500.  And American sources say new inspections will for the first time allow both sides access to sensitive sites to physically count the others war heads.

The new follow on agreement to START could be signed by mid December by the Presidents but will then take several months to be ratified by the Russian Parliament and American Senate.

START is the most comprehensive nuclear arms control agreement ever, and details inspection and verification procedures Russia and America used through the Cold War to contain the nuclear arms race.

While nuclear arms experts say replacing START is essential, many have already called on the Russians and Americans to further reduce nuclear stockpiles down to one thousand war heads each, and then for future arms control talks to include other nuclear Nations including China, India, Pakistan, France, Britain and Israel.