Yeltsin vows to press on START-2 ratification

[Reuters]

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuter) - President Boris Yeltsin said on
Saturday he would try to persuade Russian parliament's lower
house to ratify by April the START-2 treaty aimed at reducing
U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons.
``I will work with the (State) Duma to make it ratify the
treaty before the April meeting in Moscow,'' Yeltsin told
reporters, referring to a summit meeting on nuclear security
planned by the Group of Seven industrial nations and Russia.
On Friday the U.S. Senate approved the START-2 treaty signed
in January 1993, which requires the United States and Russia to
reduce their strategic arsenals to between 3,000 and 3,500
nuclear weapons each by 2003, cutting some two thirds of the
Cold War levels.
The Duma has not yet considered the pact, triggering
concerns in the United States that it could be delayed
indefinitely.
It was not clear whether the new Duma, where the Communist
Party holds a third of the seats, would agree to Yeltsin's
arguments in favour of the treaty. The communists have said that
many of the treaty's provisions harm Russia's national
interests.
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