PRAGUE. March 18 (Interfax-AVN) - State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov has approved of Tuesday's decision to delay the debate on the Russian- U.S. Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SOR).
The State Duma initially planned to consider the document's ratification on Friday.
Seleznyov, who is currently on an official visit to the Czech Republic, told Russian journalists that "this (the postponement of the treaty's ratification - Interfax) was quite predictable."
"The present political environment is not conducive to consideration of the document," he stressed.
Asked about the treaty's fate if a war should break out in Iraq, Seleznyov said that in this case, the document's ratification would be "very problematic."