Posted on 05/14/2003 10:50:34 AM PDT by knighthawk
MOSCOW - Reaching out to improve relations with the United States, Russia's lower house of parliament ratified a landmark nuclear arms control treaty Wednesday that slashes the nuclear arsenals of both countries by two-thirds.
The Duma voted 294-134 in favor of the so-called Moscow Treaty after a closed-door debate. President Vladimir Putin called the vote a "convincing ratification," Russian news agencies reported.
Putin had urged lawmakers to ratify the treaty, calling it an "important document in the sphere of strategic stability."
The U.S. Senate approved the accord in March, but the Duma delayed the vote amid Russian opposition to the war in Iraq.
Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, still must approve the treaty, which it is expected to do.
The Duma vote came as Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Ivanov to pave the way for a smooth summit between President Vladimir Putin and President Bush, scheduled in several weeks.
The accord calls on Russia and the United States to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads, by 2012.
Centrists and liberal factions backed the treaty, saying Russia would have to decommission many aging nuclear missiles anyway.
Soviet-era missiles equipped with multiple nuclear warheads form the core of the nation's nuclear arsenals. But the cash-strapped Russian military cannot afford to maintain nuclear arsenals on par with the United States.
"This treaty is more important for us than the Americans," said Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of the Duma's international affairs committee.
Communists and other opponents called the treaty treacherous, pointing to a provision that allows each country to stockpile the warheads, which are to be taken off-duty, contrary to Russia's initial push for their destruction.
"Blood on the streets of Baghdad hasn't drained yet and we are ratifying this treaty," Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov told reporters before the vote. "This treaty is a gift to Bush."
The government argues the treaty allows Russia to retain its nuclear missiles, which were to be scrapped under an earlier arms reduction treaty that Russia never ratified.
"It will allow the Russian military to plan the development of strategic nuclear forces proceeding from national interests," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said after the vote.
In the draft ratification document, Duma urged the government to provide more funds to maintain the nation's nuclear forces on a "level that would guarantee the deterrence against any aggression."
Pointing to the treaty's provision that allows each party to opt out on three months' notice, the Duma said Russia can use this right in case of "significant buildup in strategic offensive weapons of some nation or a group of nations" or the deployment of a missile defense system "capable of significantly reducing the efficiency of Russia's strategic nuclear forces."
Although it did not name the United States, the provision clearly referred to the proposed U.S. missile shield. Washington says its effort are not aimed against Russia, but many Russian lawmakers and military officials voiced concern that the deployment could erode the deterrent value of Russia's nuclear arsenals.
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