Putin Addresses Start II Issues
President Vladimir Putin called Friday for quick ratification of the long-delayed START II nuclear arms treaty with the United States and even deeper cuts in the nations' nuclear arsenals.
In his first trip out of Moscow since he was elected president, Putin said he had ordered defense and foreign ministry officials to step up consultations in parliament to prepare for the START II ratification.
"We are setting the task to free the world from piles of excessive weapons," he said in the city of Snezhinsk, known as Chelyabinsk-70 during Soviet times, a major nuclear weapons design and production facility 950 miles east of Moscow.
"Russia holds and will continue to hold talks on further cuts in strategic offensive weapons, aiming at making the world safer and ridding it of piles of arms."
The 1993 treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1996, but Communists and other hard-liners who dominated the Russian parliament have balked at ratifying the treaty, saying START II would hurt Russia's security.
After a strong showing of pro-government moderates in December's parliamentary elections, the Communists lost control of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, and lawmakers are now expected to move faster toward ratification.
START II would divide U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to between 3,000 and 3,500 warheads each, and preliminary talks have already begun on the START III treaty that would envisage more cuts.
"Russia is holding and will continue talks on further cuts in the strategic offensive weapons," Putin said, according to Russian news reports.
In a speech to Snezhinsk workers, Putin said the nuclear weapons industry should find a reasonable way to convert to civilian production, avoiding "thoughtless restructuring and layoffs."
Over the past several years, thousands of workers at the center have repeatedly gone on strike to demand back wages, as once-lavish government funding has come to a near halt.
Shrinking defense spending has also led to layoffs, and workers have found it difficult to find civilian jobs in cities like Snezhinsk, which have remained closed to outsiders for security reasons.
While moving ahead with nuclear weapons cuts, Russia must also streamline its nuclear deterrent force, Putin said.
"Our aim is to make our nuclear weapons complex more safe and effective," he said. "We will preserve and strengthen the Russian nuclear weapons complex even though we don't plan to build it up."
Putin also pledged to help market Russian nuclear technology worldwide, tacitly dismissing Washington's criticism of a deal to build a nuclear reactor in Iran.
"We will protect Russia's interests in global markets, and won't allow anyone to push Russia from those markets under the guise of falsely formulated values," Putin said when asked about prospects of cooperation with Iran.
Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov said Iran has asked Russia to build thre more reactors, a plan that would vex the Clinton administration, which fears that it would help Iran develop nuclear weapons.
Putin, a 47-year-old ex-KGB agent was elected last Sunday, mostly thanks to his image as a decisive man who wants to restore Russia's national pride and status after years of decline and humiliation that accompanied stop-go reforms.