DATE=7/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U.S. - RUSSIA WRAP (L)
NUMBER=2-252226
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO:   The United States and Russia have agreed to 
open talks next month in Moscow on a new round of cuts 
in their nuclear weapons arsenals.  The announcement 
came at the end of a day of meetings between President 
Clinton, Vice President Gore and Russian Prime 
Minister Sergei Stepashin here in Washington.  
Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White 
House.


Text:   The talks on a new Start Three nuclear arms 
treaty will begin next month even though the Russian 
Duma has yet to approve the 1993 Start Two treaty.

Speaking at a joint news conference with the Prime 
Minister, Vice President Gore renewed the 
administration's call on the Duma to move forward with 
ratification.   But with the Russian Parliament still 
angered by Nato's bombing campaign over Yugoslavia, 
Mr. Gore acknowledged lawmakers may not be in any 
hurry to approve Start Two.

            // Gore actuality //

      Because of the tensions we have so recently 
      survived in the relationship, you are not going 
      to expect the kind of action in the Duma that we 
      are talking about next week. 


                    // end act //

Mr. Stepashin, speaking through a translator,vowed to 
press for ratification later this year.

                    // Stepashin actuality //

      We will try to bring Start Two to the forum 
      again in the fall of this year.


                    // end act //

Under Start Two,the United States and Russia would 
each reduce its arsenal of long-range nuclear warheads 
to as many as 35-hundred.  Under Start Three, each 
country would limit its number of warheads to between 
two-thousand and 25-hundred.

Besides Start Three, next month's arms control talks 
will also consider changes to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Treaty, which the United States is seeking   
to allow it to work on an anti-missile system 
announced by President Clinton in January. 

Although the announcement of the talks is not a major 
development - President Clinton and Russian President 
Boris Yeltsin agreed in Cologne, Germany last month to 
move forward with Start Three - it is another step 
toward improved relations between the two countries in 
the aftermath of Nato's bombing raids on Yugoslavia. 

Mr. Stepashin also discussed the progress of economic 
reform in Russia with Mr. Gore and Mr. Clinton.  The 
International Monetary Fund is to evaluate the success 
of that reform Wednesday, when it will decide  whether 
to approve a four-point-five billion dollar loan to 
Russia. signed)


NEB/DAT/PT



27-Jul-1999 20:24 PM LOC (28-Jul-1999 0024 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.