Russian Duma could ratify nuclear treaty within days

23/12/10 16:33 CET

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With US backing in the bag, Russia’s parliament is now set to ratify a landmark nuclear arms reduction pact between the two countries.

Approval from Moscow for the new START treaty is all but certain and the green light from the lower house could be imminent.

State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said the chamber could approve the treaty as early as Friday. He said this was the view of both the Foreign Affairs Committee and the ruling United Russia party. But Gryzlov made it clear it would depend on whether Russia is satisfied that the US Senate’s resolution on ratification did not change the text.

On Wednesday, the Senate in Washington voted 71 to 26 to approve the pact, which is crucial to the so-called “re-set” in ties between Russia and the US.

“This is really a very important event not only for America’s national security policy and not only for the Russian-American relationship,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the Duma. “This is also a very important event in the context of global stability.”

The START 1 treaty expired a year ago. The new pact will cut long-range, strategic nuclear weapons deployed by Russia and the US to no more than 1,550 on each side within seven years.