International

Russia leaves pact

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW JUNE 14. Russia no longer feels bound by the START-II nuclear arms reduction treaty, its Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow sees "no preconditions'' for START-II to take effect and therefore "does not consider itself bound by international legal obligations'' not to take steps that could make this treaty meaningless, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued a day after the United States formally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

START-II called for slashing the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the U. S. from about 6,000 warheads to between 3,000 and 3,500. The U.S. ratified the treaty in 1996 and Russian did the same in 2000, but linked its implementation to the Russian-American memorandum on preserving the ABM pact. Last month, the two countries signed a new treaty providing for more radical nuclear cuts.

The main implication of today's statement is that Moscow considers itself free from a START-II ban on having land-based strategic missiles with multiple warheads.

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