Russia 110111 Basic Political Developments

US-Russia civil nuclear deal comes into effect

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4011948,00.html
Published: 01.11.11, 08:30 / Israel News

An agreement allowing US companies to export nuclear technology to Russia is to take effect Tuesday after the US ambassador and a deputy Russian foreign minister exchange diplomatic notes.

The civil nuclear agreement, which cleared the US Congress last month, allows the United States and Russia to exchange nuclear energy technology, engage in joint commercial nuclear power ventures and work more closely in combating nuclear proliferation. Moscow hopes it will lead to major contracts for its nuclear industry, including projects to enrich uranium and produce uranium fuel. (AP)

U.S., Russia Enact Civilian Nuclear Accord, Promise Cooperation

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aaS8JprImKWs
By Henry Meyer

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Russia and the U.S. enacted a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that will allow the Cold War foes to collaborate on developing new atomic technology.

U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov today in Moscow exchanged diplomatic notes for the accord to enter into force.

“The 123 Agreement represents a major step forward in U.S.-Russian civil nuclear cooperation, enabling two of the world’s leading nuclear powers to work together to find solutions to global problems,” Beyrle said.

President Barack Obama in May last year resubmitted to Congress the agreement with Russia that was withdrawn by his predecessor, George W. Bush, after Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia. The accord passed through Congress last month.

The Obama administration has set out to “reset” relations with Russia, which chilled after the war with Georgia, a U.S. ally. Obama’s revival of the nuclear cooperation agreement followed the signing with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, of a nuclear arms reduction treaty, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate last month.

The cooperation agreement, signed by Bush in May 2008, brings the U.S. and Russia together to promote the safe sale of nuclear fuel to countries that want to develop civilian nuclear programs. It would facilitate the collection and reprocessing of spent fuel to prevent it from being used to make atomic weapons.

Nuclear Proliferation

“It opens up new possibilities for the joint development of new technologies that will help us to combat the global threat of nuclear proliferation, as well as to create new commercial opportunities for U.S. and Russian companies to produce cleaner, safer and more secure nuclear energy,” Beyrle said.

The document, known as a 123 Agreement because it falls under section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, allows the U.S. to cooperate with other countries in civilian nuclear energy.

Russia and the U.S. agreed on Dec. 6 to consider changing research reactors to run on low-enriched fuel as part of efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide.

Russia may start with six reactors at institutes to “show a good example at home,” Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Rosatom Corp., Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company, said after the signing of an accord with the U.S. Department of Energy.

The U.S. is working on the switch from using highly enriched fuel at research reactors, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said.

Rosatom said Jan. 8 on its website that the agreement would allow Russia and the U.S. to cooperate in developing uranium resources, building light reactors and improving nuclear safety.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Willy Morris at [e-mail]

Last Updated: January 11, 2011 04:00 EST

11.01.11 11:54

The State Duma may ratify the START Treaty January 25 - Gryzlov

http://www.interfax-russia.ru/main.asp?id=202424

GOOGLE TRANSLATION


January 11 Interfax-Russia.ru - State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said that the second reading a bill on the ratification of the US-Russian START treaty could take place on Friday 14 January, and the third and final reading - to pass on Jan. 25.
"Tomorrow will be a meeting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and on Thursday will address the issue of making the bill on second reading. We understand that this deadline will be Friday, Jan. 14," - said Boris Gryzlov reporters Tuesday after a meeting of the Council of the Duma.
He drew attention to the fact that the law on ratification will be submitted six additional articles that are related to the U.S. Congress adopted reservations to the text of the law, signed by previous presidents of Russia and the U.S..
"It's 11 pages of text," - said Boris Gryzlov.
Gryzlov noted that the Russian deputies were forced to expand the text of the law on ratification of START II is in respect of the reservations Americans.
The third and final, reading of the law has been tentatively scheduled for January 25, said the speaker. He stressed that in parallel on the same day will be taken two statements - the first State Duma will send to the U.S. Congress - it is directly related to the ratification of the START treaty, and the second statement, which will be domestic in nature, concerns the strengthening of national defense.
"The ratification of the treaty should not reduce our defense," - said Boris Gryzlov.
In the first reading a bill on the ratification of START II was passed by the Parliament in December, at the end of the autumn session.
Agreement on measures for further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (START) was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague, Russian and U.S. presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama.
Compared with the Moscow Treaty of 2002, the parties agreed to reduce the total number of warheads by one third - to 1.55 million (the Moscow Treaty levels of warheads has been fixed in 1,7-2,2 thousand for each country). In addition, Russia and the U.S. more than twice lower the marginal rate for deployed and non-strategic missiles - 800.
The treaty should replace the treaty between Russia and the United States on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of January 3, 1993, which expired on December 4, 2009.
Validity of a new treaty on strategic offensive arms - ten years. It can be extended if the parties for a period not exceeding five years, while the earlier it is superseded by a subsequent agreement on strategic offensive arms. Treaty subject to ratification and shall enter into force upon the exchange of instruments of ratification.
The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on Dec. 22, 2010. For its ratification in 1971, Senator spoke at the necessary 67 votes, voted against 26 members of the Chamber.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was pleased to learn that the U.S. Senate ratified the START Treaty, and expressed hope that the Duma and Federation Council will be willing to consider this issue and to ratify the document.

Duma resumes work after Christmas & New Year holidays

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15844900&PageNum=0

11.01.2011, 04.00

MOSCOW, January 11 (Itar-Tass) - Russian lawmakers are back from Christmas and New Year holidays. The Russian State Duma will open its spring session at a plenary meeting on Tuesday.

According to the Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, the program of work includes 1,650 draft laws.

A bill on ratification of the new START treaty will be one of the main items on the agenda in January. The deputies passed the document in the first reading on December 24, 2010. At the moment, they are working on accompanying comments and amendments to the document.

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the foreign affairs committee, believes that a law on ratification of START-3 together with all ‘Russian reservations’ could be adopted before the end of January.

Also in January, the State Duma will consider the second reading of a bill “On Police”. It’s expected to take effect on March 1, 2011, as suggested by the Russian president.

Other topics on the agenda of the spring session include demography, the values of family upbringing and the protection of children’s rights. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned these subjects in his annual address to the Federal Assembly (parliament) in 2010.

“The deputies have done a lot in this direction. But we won’t stop on that. We’ll go ahead with our work,” Gryzlov went on to say.

A set of rules and regulations on the innovative activities of Russian enterprises, including tax preferences, will remain in the focus of deputies’ attention. Gryzlov said that some of them would be adopted in spring.