Final passage of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by the Russian parliament is not slated until some time in 2011, reported the Itar-Tass news agency Friday, citing legislators, according to dpa The lower house, or Duma, is expected to conduct a first reading of the treaty - which calls for cuts in overall nuclear arms by the United States and Russia, while restoring monitoring requirements - on Friday. But a second reading and passage is not expected before January, at the earliest, Konstantin Kasschov, the head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee, told Itar-Tass. The upper house, or Federation Council, has also decided to delay its consideration until next year, based on the Duma decision, said Sergey Mironov, the president of that body. The US Senate ratified the treaty on Wednesday, partially out of concerns that failure to do so would worsen relations with Russia and ratchet up nuclear tensions. But Russian legislators have now expressed concern about a non- binding resolution passed at the same time as the ratification. The resolution did not change the treaty and gave US President Barack Obama Senate permission to sign the treaty. However, the Russian legislators want to make sure that the resolution had no impact on the New Start treaty. Russian commentators say they still expect the Russian parliament to back the treaty, as it has Kremlin support.
