MOSCOW – Russia on Thursday welcomed the US Senate’s approval of a treaty slashing the nuclear missile arsenals of the Cold War foes, with parliament saying it could ratify the accord as early as this week.
US senators ratified Wednesday the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) after a months-long political battle, putting the ball firmly in the court of the Russian legislature to respond. President Dmitry Medvedev, who signed the treaty in Prague in April with his US counterpart Barack Obama, welcomed the US lawmakers’ ratification “with satisfaction”, his spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said in a statement.
In Russia, the treaty still requires approval from the State Duma lower house of parliament and Federation Council upper house. Top lawmakers had long emphasised they would only consider the issue after the US approval. Timakova said Medvedev “expressed hope that the State Duma and Federation Council are ready to examine this question and ratify the document.”
Two of the political parties represented in the Duma said they would not support the treaty but there is little doubt the Russian parliament, dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, will rubber-stamp the accord. The main question is the speed at which the process will take place, observers say.
Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said the parliament needed to examine the final document agreed by the US Senate – which was amended from the initial draft – and it was still awaiting a copy of the original text to examine. But he added: “If the conditions (in the US Senate resolution) do not affect the basic text of the agreement then we could adopt the treaty tomorrow (Friday).”
Prior to approving the treaty, US lawmakers attached non-binding amendments to the resolution to recommit Washington to deploying a missile defence system, to modernising its nuclear arsenal, and to seeking new talks with Russia on curbing tactical nuclear weapons.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Duma committee on foreign relations, said that there were three possible options for the parliament, including “approving the bill in the form it was presented by the president.” Technically this could be done tomorrow (Friday), the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
But he cautioned it was also possible the Duma could decide to make additions to the original bill or even introduce its own amendments. The latter would require approval in three readings rather than one. “What option is chosen depends on the document ratified by the US Senate which we are going to receive in the next hours,” Kosachev said.
