Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama is the kind of politician who "keeps his word."

Obama has delivered on promises to Russia on issues including the New Start nuclear treaty and membership in the World Trade Organization, Medvedev said on state television today.

Meanwhile, Russia’s lower house of parliament began ratifying the treaty, approving the first of three readings, according to a vote broadcast on the website of state-run television channel Rossiya 24.

However, full ratification is expected "no earlier than in January," according to Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of Russian lower house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee.