Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on Friday overwhelmingly approved the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States in a first reading. The vote in the assembly, dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, was 350 in favour against 58 opposing votes, dpa reported. The Duma's final approval will not come until a second and decisive third reading planned for mid-January, said the head of the body's foreign affairs committee, Konstantin Kossatchov. In addition, the upper-house Federation Council still has to approve the treaty, which calls for cuts in overall nuclear arms by the US and Russia while restoring monitoring requirements. The council has postponed its decision until next year. There had been brief hopes earlier this week that Russian legislators might approve the measure before the end of the year, but they said they needed time to review the resolution. Senior Kremlin officials had said earlier Friday that they have no reservations about New START, which only cleared the US Senate Wednesday after a major political push by President Barack Obama. The treaty had seemed in danger of foundering in Russia after some legislators there objected to language in a non-binding resolution US senators passed at the same time as the treaty was approved. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the treaty itself had not been changed, the Interfax news agency reported. He also confirmed that the resolution text was non-binding. That means the United States has met all requirements and that the Russian legislature can also sign off on the treaty, he said. But Lavrov did criticise the resolution for language that called for the continuation of a US missile defence programme in Europe, which has long rankled with Russia. He said Duma lawmakers would be formulating their own resolution before the second reading. Obama allowed the US resolution language in exchange for support for the treaty from the conservative US Republican party. Passage was seen as vital in order to maintain good relations with Russia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised the treaty during a live television interview. "This document is a cornerstone of security in the world and Europe for the coming decades," he said. He noted that some US citizens think all of the world's evil is concentrated in Russia, but noted that many Americans are also interested in a "new start" with Russia.
