News
Publish date: January 12, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
The Duma did not ratify the treaty in 1997, planning to consider the question in the first quarter of 1998. Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton will not go to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart before the ratification issue is settled.
Giving his final 1997 press conference in late December, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov stressed once again the necessity of ratification, claiming that "it is in our common interest, in particular Russia’s interest." Primakov expressed his confidence that the treaty would be ratified in the course of 1998.
Speaking for the parliament, Vladimir Ryzhkov, vice-speaker of the Russian parliament said the Duma may consider the issue of ratification in the first part of 1998, giving no guarantee ratification will actually occur.
Meanwhile U.S. President Bill Clinton made a statement in late December 1997, saying that his visit to Russia in 1998 very much depends upon ratification of START-II.
The START-II agreement was signed by the two presidents in January 1993, but only the U.S. Senate has ratified it so far. The treaty calls for reduction of the Russian nuclear strategic arsenal, down to 3250 nuclear warheads. In March 1997, the two presidents, at their meeting in Helsinki, agreed to prolong the time period for the dismantling operations from 2003 until December 31, 2007.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.