The nuclear arms reduction treaty START was tentatively approved by the lower house of the Russian Parliament on Friday, Reuters reported.
The State Duma passed the measure 350-58 in the first of three votes, as the Russian Federation inches towards ratification of the arms treaty. The U.S. Senate voted 71 to 26 to pass the treaty on Wednesday.
Russia’s lower house will return on Jan. 11, after a holiday break, for two more readings of the treaty, which the parliament says it will need extra time to study and consider, the Associated Press said.
Head of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev told AP that full ratification is possible next month “at the earliest” while the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the news agency that the bill’s text would not be changed by the parliament, just as the U.S. Senate did not make any changes.
The parliamentary vote came hours after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev publicly lauded Obama for pushing START through the Senate.
President Obama “fulfills his promises ... In rather difficult circumstances, he was able to push through the ratification of the paramount START document, which will ensure our security in the coming years,” Medvedev said on Russian television, according to Reuters.
The START arms treaty, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama in April, will be a continuation of START I, which expired in December of last year. The new START would limit both the United States and Russia’s inventory of nuclear warheads to 1,550 and recreate an arms monitoring system.
The State Duma passed the measure 350-58 in the first of three votes, as the Russian Federation inches towards ratification of the arms treaty. The U.S. Senate voted 71 to 26 to pass the treaty on Wednesday.
Russia’s lower house will return on Jan. 11, after a holiday break, for two more readings of the treaty, which the parliament says it will need extra time to study and consider, the Associated Press said.
Head of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev told AP that full ratification is possible next month “at the earliest” while the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the news agency that the bill’s text would not be changed by the parliament, just as the U.S. Senate did not make any changes.
The parliamentary vote came hours after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev publicly lauded Obama for pushing START through the Senate.
President Obama “fulfills his promises ... In rather difficult circumstances, he was able to push through the ratification of the paramount START document, which will ensure our security in the coming years,” Medvedev said on Russian television, according to Reuters.
The START arms treaty, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama in April, will be a continuation of START I, which expired in December of last year. The new START would limit both the United States and Russia’s inventory of nuclear warheads to 1,550 and recreate an arms monitoring system.
Friends Read Free