#1
Izvestia
May 15, 2003
ARSENALS AS A GIFT
Further progress in US-Russia relations
Author: Mikhail Vinogradov, Ekaterina Grigorieva
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

PRESIDENT PUTIN ASKED THE DUMA TO RATIFY THE STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE REDUCTIONS TREATY, AS THE SUCCESS OF TALKS WITH COLIN POWELL DEPENDED ON THAT TO SOME EXTENT. THE DUMA AGREED, BY A MAJORITY OF 294. MEANWHILE, POWELL MET WITH A NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN MOSCOW, INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT.

US State Secretary Colin Powell arrived in Moscow yesterday. The success of the Russian authorities in talks with the important guest depended on a number of reasons, including the voting in the Duma on the ratification of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT). The Duma complied with President Putin's request and voted in favor by a majority of almost two-thirds. Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces (URF) showed a touching solidarity with the centrist factions. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and the agrarians, as expected, voted against.

The Duma discussed the SORT ratification issue behind closed doors. As usual in such cases, even the bathrooms adjacent to the meeting hall were locked - there is a belief among Duma members that people can eavesdrop on plenary meetings by pressing an ear to bathroom pipes.

There was no need for that - Duma members were quite willing to speak about the discussion and vote. Dmitry Rogozin, as head of the relevant committee, was the main reporter, and he was ready to answer questions of other Duma members. They were mainly interested if the ratification would affect the state of national defense. However, colleagues did not ask questions to Rogozin - they mainly addressed Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The foreign minister left for a meeting with Colin Powell right after the vote. The president's representative in the Duma Alexander Kotenkov did not speak in the presence of large-caliber artillery either.

CPRF faction coordinator Sergei Reshulsky (a consistent opponent of ratification): "Duma members had a lot of questions, there was not even time enough for me. In my view, none of the ministers produced enough arguments to prove their position. They just worked off what they had been ordered to do, trying to explain why they were asking us to vote in favor. The conversation was as follows: So now we should do this, as we would like to strengthen relations, and it's the only way for us to influence anything at all."

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky again put on a good show - according to his colleagues, he tried to explain to them the meaning of internationalism, anarchism, and colonels - and it is unclear how that was linked with the issue under discussion. By the way, Zhirinovsky himself abstained from voting.

The treaty was ratified by 294 votes in favor, 134 against, and 22 abstentions. The votes were distributed as follows: the CPRF and the Agrarian Party voted 100% against (except for Burdukov, who pressed the wrong button by mistake); Unity faction had 80 votes in favor and one against; the Fatherland - All Russia faction had 51 votes in favor and two abstentions; the URF and Yabloko voted 100% in favor; the People's Deputy group had 53 votes in favor; the Russian Regions group had 39 votes in favor, six against, and two abstentions; and nine independent deputies also supported ratification.

"The Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States on Strategic Offensive Reductions fully meets Russia's national interests. We showed what exactly we need to ensure our strategic stability and security. The new treaty is very profitable for Russia, as we obtained an opportunity to develop our strategic nuclear forces proceeding from our own national interests," Duma defense committee chairman General of the Army Andrei Nikolayev said after the ratification.

The US Senate ratified the treaty in March; the Russian Duma demonstratively declined to do so at the same time - in protest against the war on Iraq. It did not make haste about the ratification after that (just a couple of days ago Gennady Seleznev said the matter of SORT would not be discussed sooner than May 20). However, centrist deputies also said the day before that if the treaty was not ratified, as the communists called for, the US would just be given a chance to preserve its present-day offensive arsenals.

Yet a decision was made last Monday that the treaty would be considered (and most likely ratified) on May 14, alongside Colin Powell's talks in Moscow. To avoid unpleasant surprises in voting, President Putin had even met Duma faction leaders the day before.

According to analysts, Powell is to appreciate the demonstrative amelioration of anti-American sentiments. He spent a day and a half in Moscow. His meeting agenda included talks with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov (as we went to print, they were still in progress), participation in a conference on countering AIDS, and a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. At a meeting with Putin, they discussed the future Russian-American summit that will start at the tercentenary celebrations in St. Petersburg on June 1 and then continue in Evian, France. The agenda: the future of Russian oil contracts in Iraq; bilateral relations; possible joint strategic and non-strategic plans in the military and defense area.

(Translated by P. Pikhnovsky)

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