Russian parliament boss threatens block of new arms deal with US

Mar 16, 2010, 19:12 GMT

Moscow - Russia's top parliamentarian warned Tuesday that the legislature would block a new US-Russian arms reduction deal if it excluded the issue of US missile shield plans in Eastern Europe.

The warning came from Boris Gryzkov, speaker of the State Duma, regarding the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which the two superpowers are close to wrapping up.

According to Interfax, Gryzkov warned that the State Duma would block ratification of the followup treaty if it permitted the United States to pursue further its plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov quickly assured that the issue would be dealt with in the new treaty, which would succed the START-1 accord of 1991 which expired last December.

'There are no grounds for excitement. There will be no problem,2 he said. The new treaty would address the question of the US plans, Lavrov said, without going into details.

The Gryzkov warning comes a week after US and Russian negotiators resumed talks in Geneva to try to hammer out the final details of the new treaty, and two days before US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Moscow.

According to Sergei Prichodko, an advisor to President Dmitry Medvedev, 'only small technical details' needed yet resolving, but no fundamental issues.

Medvedev and US President Barack Obama recently spoke by telephone about progress in nuclear arms reduction talks.

Negotiators are working out the details of a joint understanding issued by the two presidents in July 2009, calling for cuts in nuclear stockpiles from an existing limit of 2,200 warheads to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 warheads.