Clinton to skip Obama's Moscow visit next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who broke her right elbow two weeks ago, will not accompany President Barack Obama to Moscow next week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

"Secretary Clinton is not going to go to Moscow," the official told reporters, saying Clinton would name a State Department official to replace her on the Monday-to-Wednesday trip.

The official declined to explain why she would not travel and it was not immediately clear whether it was because of her injury. Clinton tripped and fell in the State Department on June 17 and had surgery two days later on her right elbow.

The official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said Clinton planned to travel to Asia later in the month, when she is expected to visit India and possibly Thailand.

Arms control is likely to top the agenda in Moscow and diplomats believe Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would agree on the outline of a deal to reduce the stocks of deployed nuclear warheads to below 1,700 on each side.

On Monday, Clinton held a news conference with her arm in a sling and said that the injury was still painful. "I'm engaged in a different form of arms control," she joked.

(Editing by David Storey)