18-01-11 Russia mulls secret add-on to STARTRussia is preparing a secret addition to the new START treaty with the United States which is expected to be passed by the State Duma on January 25,according to RBC Daily.The text of the statement,drafted in deep secret by the Foreign Ministry and State Duma members,has not been approved yet,as the Kremlin is seeking a balance between Russians interests and a risk of a scandal with the United States.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,who is personally credited for reaching the START deal in Prague last year,will probably approve the addendum himself,which is why its contents are kept in secret.On January 14,the State Duma cautiously amended the treaty by adding that Russia would be free to withdraw from the treaty if the United States,another country or a group of states deployed a missile defense system capable of substantially diminishing the effectiveness of Russians strategic nuclear arms.Along with the third reading of the bill to approve the treaty scheduled for January 25,the State Duma is also expected to approve a statement containing an even blunter version of the argument,which will make no reference to substantially diminishing the effectiveness of Russians strategic nuclear arms.The statement even goes as far as to stipulate that it is unjustified and inappropriate to the current level of relations in the Euro-Atlantic region to deploy U.S. non-strategic arms outside the United States.Senior specialist of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of International Security Problems,Alexey Fenenko,warned against the risk of adopting too many amendments to the treaty so that any compliance with it would become pointless,just as the case was with the previous START treaty.However,an expert of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe,Vladimir Dvorkin,pointed out that the mutual amendments did not affect the main points of the treaty and should be considered as “an exchange of civilities” between Russian and U.S. lawmakers. |
