Geneva - The multilateral approach of the new United States administration offers a chance for making "real progress" in efforts for global disarmament, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday.

"The arrival of the new US administration and President Obama changes the situation because now the questions of multilateral disarmament has become a priority, which was not seen under the previous administration," Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Geneva.

The US and Russia will have to hammer out a follow-up to the START nuclear arms reduction treaty by the end of the year, as it expires on December 5.

"We both believe we need a new one," the minister said, adding that it was a top priority. Getting down to the substance of the work would likely have to wait, though, until the White House got together its new team for disarmament negotiations.

Lavrov earlier had addressed the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations Geneva office where he stressed the need to advance global nuclear arms reductions and upload limitations, prevent weaponization of outer space and stop operational deployment of strategic conventional warheads.

He also wanted the US to sign on to a global treaty banning underground nuclear tests.

A future agreement as a follow up to START should include limitations on ballistic missiles and heavy bombers, said Lavrov.

He pushed for a multilateral approach to solving nuclear proliferation and said unilateral efforts to develop anti-ballistic missile systems undermine the nuclear disarmament process.

In 2002, the US pulled out of the ABM agreement with Russia.

Lavrov had met with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton the night before, which they both said was a positive start to "resetting" the relationship between the two nations and pledged to reach a disarmament deal by year's end.

However, it was clear some significant differences remained.

One point of contention was the US plan to place missile defence systems in Europe, which Russia opposes, views as a threat and describes as an offensive system.

"We also deem it necessary to exclude possible deployment of strategic offensive arms outside national territories," Lavrov quoted the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying at the conference.

Lavrorv later said the missile system would "would create risks for the Russian Federation. We would have to take measures to alleviate risk."

He added: "We would prefer not to move in this direction."

On the Middle East, Lavrov said Moscow supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would propose a date for peace conference after the formation of a new Israeli government.

He said he hoped the new Obama administration we work for a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran's nuclear programme.

"There is no military solution to Iran," he accented.

Obama and Medvedev were scheduled to hold their first meeting on the fringes of an economic summit in London at the beginning of April, where the issues of disarmament, nuclear proliferation and the global financial crisis would likely be discussed.

After his visit in Geneva, Lavrov was to return to Moscow. (dpa)