RUSSIA: START II NUCLEAR ARMS TREATY REJECTED BY STATE DUMA

Описание: (13 Dec 1999) Russian/Nat

The State Duma, the lawmaking house of the Russian parliament, on Monday approved Russia's union with neighbouring Belarus and an amnesty for Chechen rebels, but refused even to consider the START II nuclear arms treaty.

Speaking after the vote, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the amnesty act was aimed at convincing Chechen rebels to lay down arms.

Putin criticised the Duma for not backing START II, but added the government would try to put the issue on the Duma agenda once again.

The Russian parliament's lower house overwhelmingly ratified a union treaty on Monday bringing Russia and Belarus closer together.

The State Duma voted 382 to three to ratify the union treaty, which was signed by President Boris Yeltsin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko last Wednesday.

Although this is the third treaty between the two countries in three years, it is largely a symbolic document, stopping short of Lukashenko's goal of merging the two Slavic, ex-Soviet republics into a single state.

But it does propose combining the two countries' currencies by 2005 and introducing a joint tax system starting in 2001.

Public support for the union is strong in both countries, with many people nostalgic for the Soviet era.

The treaty now goes for ratification by the upper house of Russia's parliament, which is expected to review the agreement later this month.

Russia's Duma also voted on Monday to grant amnesty to those rebels and Russian soldiers fighting in Chechnya who have committed offences punishable by Russian law.

But the amnesty doesn't apply to those who committed killings, abductions and other grave crimes, and it was not clear exactly who would be covered.

To qualify for the amnesty, rebels and other offenders have until February 1, 1999 to stop fighting.

The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, said the amnesty was proving effective in encouraging Chechen people to offer their allegiance to Russia.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Even the rumours of imminent amnesty have played a positive role. People who were forced by the bandits to join their units are now taking the side of the federal authorities on a large scale."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister

The Duma also had the opportunity on Monday to vote on the START II nuclear treaty.

But the Communists again succeeded in preventing either a vote or a debate.

The Communists and their hard-line allies who dominate parliament have consistently resisted the treaty, which would halve U-S and Russian nuclear arsenals to between three thousand and three thousand-five hundred warheads each.

Russia and the United States both signed the START II agreement in 1993 - the U-S Senate ratified it in 1996 and President Boris Yeltsin's government has long urged Russia's parliament to ratify it.

But hard-liners have balked, saying START II would damage Russia's security.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the government would keep pressuring lawmakers to ratify the treaty.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We will try to raise this issue once again. We believe the ratification of START II would be a step in the right direction. It would show Russia's real policy on disarmament and in the light of agreements reached over the past years in the very complex sphere of disarmament."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister

Observers now believe it will be the first half of next year before the treaty gets voted on.

Monday's parliamentary session was expected to be the last before Duma elections next Sunday.

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