Russian Duma might delay New START action until January (Roundup)

Dec 23, 2010, 23:09 GMT

Moscow - The Russian Parliament will likely delay ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the United States until January due to concerns about the wording of a US Senate resolution, a top Russian legislator said Thursday.

The US Senate voted its consent to the New START treaty on Wednesday, and the Russian Duma leadership had initially said it could complete its own debate as early as Friday.

But on Thursday, Konstantin Kosachev, vice chairman of the international affairs committee of the Duma, noted Russian concerns about the wording of the US Senate resolution that gave consent to the full and unaltered treaty, as agreed and signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama in April.

Some of the concern focused on conditions that Obama had agreed to in order to win centre-right Republican support for the treaty.

The resolution, which authorized Obama to exchange instruments of ratification with the Russian government, also imposed requirements for the US president to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty, and stated the Senate's 'understanding' that the New START treaty 'does not impose any limitations on the deployment of missile defences' other than requirements already in the treaty.

The first reading of the ratification proposal in the Russian Duma is scheduled for Friday, Kosachev said. The second and decisive third readings are expected after the Russian New Year's holiday ends on January 10, the influential foreign policy legislator said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Analysts said there was little doubt the pro-Kremlin legislature would approve the treaty. The Duma had been waiting for an outcome of the debate in the Senate.

Obama and Medvedev on Thursday pledged to continue their close cooperation as the two countries were set to implement the nuclear- arms reduction treaty.

In a Thursday morning telephone call, Medvedev congratulated Obama on the Senate's ratification, the White House said in a statement.

'The two leaders agreed that this was an historic event for both countries and for US-Russia relations,' the White House said. The two leaders 'pledged to continue their close partnership' in 2011.

New START was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April and binds the two sides to cut their numbers of active warheads to 1,550 within seven years, or about 30 per cent from the 1991 treaty, which expired in December 2009.

Read more about Russia

Read more about US Defence