21 May 1998
(The Duma delegation completes visit to U.S.) (560) By Lydia Voronina USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the Duma Foreign Committee and a participant in the Russian parliamentary delegation visiting the United States this week, said at a press conference in the Russian Embassy on May 21, "The positions of the Russian legislature and Russian administration on the START II ratification coincide. They both insist on faster ratification. But there is no unity of opinions over this issue in the Russian parliament." Reporting on the results of their visit, Speaker of the Russian Duma Vladimir Ryzhkov reminded the press that an informal working group composed of the Duma and U.S. congressional representatives was established two years ago. Since that time, the group has been working productively on various aspects of democracy building, discussing the most urgent policy issues and visiting each other's capitols regularly. "Just in the last three days in Washington, we have accomplished a week-long load of work," Ryzhkov said. "We had 20 meetings, including those with U.S. congressmen, U.S. Defense Secretary Cohen, Energy Secretary Pena, the President's advisor Strobe Talbott, and others." During the current visit to the United States, the Russian parliamentary delegation concentrated on three major issues: foreign policy (ratification of START II and discussion of START III, proliferation, and anti-missile defense system); economic legislation, particularly new laws on taxes, division of property, and investment; and humanitarian concerns, specifically implementation of the religious organization law passed by the Duma last year and cooperation on international adoptions. Answering a question about the prospects for START II ratification by the Russian Duma, Lukin noted this was "the most intensively discussed issue" during their visit to the United States. He emphasized that "both the Russian legislature and administration insist on faster ratification of START II. However, there is no unity of opinion in the Duma over this issue." In Lukin's words, those who oppose immediate ratification and would postpone it until the year 2007 argue that the treaty content needs further clarification and specification regarding how the "drastic arms reductions" will affect the country's military potential in general. Also the problem of the "recurrent potential," that is, the allowed number of de-activated but extant missiles is still unresolved. Nevertheless, Lukin stressed, "in general, the process of nuclear disarmament is developing satisfactorily. START I is expected to be fulfilled by the year 2001, ahead of schedule." Asked to assess the first political steps of new Russian prime minister, Sergei Kiriyenko, Ryzhkov pointed out that he has to deal with serious domestic problems such as a miners' strike, a railroad blockage, and delays in payments of pensions and salaries. "The 25 percent reduction plan he [Kiriyenko] proposed for all government institutions will not help him to solve them," Ryzhkov mentioned. Commenting on the recent victory of General Lebed in the gubernatorial election in Krasnoyrsky Kray, both Russian deputies cited the weakness of the current Russian administration and the widespread instability in the country. "Calls for law and order could sound very appealing to people in such a situation," Ryzhkov said, adding, "But Lebed's future depends not on success of his policies in Krasnoyarsky Kray, but on how effectively the Russian Duma and President will handle the country's most critical problems."