You Are Right, If You Make More Amendments

Russian deputies, probably inspired by the heated debate on the START treaty in the U.S. Senate at the end of last year, decided to discuss the treaty in detail too. The examination of the Russian-American START treaty, during the second hearing, took less than an hour before the document was approved by the majority of votes— 349 for, 57 against and two abstentions. The heads of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense Sergei Lavrov and Anatoly Serdukov observed the dispute.

Before the voting, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Duma’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, explained to his colleagues why they should have voted for the treaty in the form in which it was signed by the presidents of Russia and the U.S. According to him, the deputies should not pay attention to resolutions adopted by the U.S. Senate. Those resolutions contain the requirement for the White House to continue the developments of AMD system according to plans approved previously by the Senate.

“I can officially confirm that we do not acknowledge the supremacy of American Senate’s declarations in relation to our decisions. Moreover, the ratification package, for which— I hope— the Duma will vote, comprises the statement that one-sided understanding by the USA of the certain clauses of the START treaty does not change legal obligations of the USA and does not impose any additional obligation on Russia,” claimed Konstantin Kosachev.

The head of the Duma’s Committee spoke about the amendments, brought forward by the party United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya), which were to be attached to the treaty. In the amendments, like in the preamble of the treaty, there is the statement about the connection of strategic offensive and strategic defensive arms. “We mean also that the START treaty is extended to any strategic offensive arms. The definition ‘nuclear’ is lacking, therefore the treaty is extended to the non-nuclear equipped arms too,” reported the deputy. However, he did not make it clear as to how the U.S. would carry it all out.

United Russia believes that the most important amendment is one concerning the terms of denunciation by Russia of the treaty. “We mean the deployment by the USA, or other states, or a group of other states, of anti-missile defense system that can substantially reduce the effectiveness of strategic nuclear arms of Russian Federation,” Mr. Kosachev announced; and to make it even clearer repeated, “We mean such decisions in the sphere of military construction made by the USA or other states that can threaten the national security of Russian Federation.”

Thus, United Russia made not only the U.S., but also the NATO countries responsible for the implementation of the new treaty. As it is widely known, Washington is discussing the problem of deployment AMD system in Europe with NATO.

The deputies from other parties asked the main speaker on the treaty how to treat the Senate’s resolution, which states that the connection of offensive arms with defensive ones is not legally binding. Mr. Kosachev responded exhaustively that the American law is in force for the American president, and our president “is subject to Russian law on ratification of the treaty.” Russian Duma’s amendments are supposed to bother Washington as little as American amendments bother Moscow.

The debate resulted in even Communists voting for the amendment — Communists criticized the START treaty, as it does not conform to Russian interests. “I propose to vote for the amendment since it does not deteriorate the bad treaty,” appealed the communist Leonid Kalashnikov.

The third hearing will be held on January 25. After that, Dmitry Medvedev will have 14 days to examine the ratification documents and sign them. “I think that at the end of January, beginning of February, the president will sign the treaty,” stated Kosachev on the broadcast of TV channel “Rossiya 24.” If all this happens, the new START treaty will come into force nine months after Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed it in Prague. Therefore, the time needed for the ratification of the document will be compatible with the time needed for working it up.