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Alexei Arbatov
is certain that the START II Treaty will be ratified
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Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee of the State
Duma Alexei Arbatov (the Yabloko faction) thinks that there
is a good chance the the Duma will ratify START II treaty
when it convenes on April 14, 2000.
At the same time Alexei Arbatov told journalists on April
13 that even if the treaty is ratified, it will only come
into force after the parties exchange the instruments of
ratification.
Such an exchange, according to Arbatov, will not take place
immediately, as the ratification law stipulates a number
of provisions, in particular those that indicate that the
USA must ratify a number of documents closely connected
to the START II Treaty.
“Therefore, the forthcoming ratification, which will no
doubt take place, should be regarded as a very large and
maybe even decisive step, but is still not the final step
in the implementation of the START II Treaty,” stressed
Alexei Arbatov.
He also indicated that the law on ratification also stipulates
a number of provisions, which can enable Russia to exit
unilaterally from the treaty. This might happen, if the
United States virtually exited from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty of 1972.
Alexei Arbatov also noted that two statements of the State
Duma are to be adopted at the forthcoming meeting of the
Duma (on April 14, 2000). The first will cover the political
aspect of the issue – interlinkage of the START II Treaty
with the problem of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
and political relations between Russia and the US, etc.
The second statement will deal with military-and-technical
and military-and-financial issues related to implementation
START II Treaty.
Alexei Arbatov also thinks that discussion of the issue
as well as the voting on the ratification of the START II
Treaty may take place in a closed regime. At the same time
Alexei Arbatov stressed that he thought it possible and
right to hold an open vote.
Based on Interfax reports.
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Yabloko’s
candidate for Governor Igor Artemyev calls on all democrats
to unite at the elections
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Yabloko’s candidate for Governor of Petersburg, Igor Artemyev,
thinks that it is possible to propose a single candidate
from Yabloko and the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) at
the elections in the Northern capital to avoid splitting
the democratic electorate.
He has no doubts that “this will definitely happen in
the second round” (the SPS candidate at the elections is
Deputy of the State Duma Yuli Rybakov). “Such a possibility
also exists before the second round and the chances for
this are also high here,” said the leader of Yabloko’s St
Petersburg branch in an interview with the “Izvestia” newspaper
(published on April 14, 2000).
In his opinion, “if the democrats are able to reach agreement
for the first time in a long while – and they all opposite
the present Governor Vladimir Yakovlev – they will have
a good chances of winning”. Assessing his own chances at
the elections, Igor Artemyev thinks that he will obtain
a percentage of the vote that Yabloko has never obtained
in the Northern capital.
He also stressed that the democrats of St Petersburg do
not expect to obtain the backing of the Kremlin, as “all
the problems of St Petersburg must be solved in this city”.
At the same time he admitted that Yabloko had been conducting
negotiations with the “Unity” movement, “which is, not without
grounds, called pro-Kremlin”. “We believe that it is important
that our colleagues from "Unity” support our democratic
candidate” against this Governor, stressed Igor Artemyev.
In his view, this is possible. Igor Artemyev is absolutely
convinced that while the present team remains in Smolny
(Ed. The building of the city administration), all the elections
in St Petersburg “will be dirty. Such is the style of work
of this team”.
Based on Interfax reports.
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