MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian State Duma may ratify the Russian-U.S. Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SOR) on May 16, a Russian parliamentarian has said.
"I believe at least 260 to 280 parliamentarians will vote for ratification," State Duma international affairs committee chairman Dmitri Rogozin told Interfax on Wednesday.
Rogozin said he intends to hold consultations with committee members, and will soon call on the Duma Council to approve the date for considering the treaty's ratification.
"In a preliminary manner, I have cleared the date, May 16, with the Russian foreign minister," Rogozin said. He recalled that Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will be official presidential representatives at the Duma plenary session considering the SOR Treaty's ratification.
Rogozin said he is sure that most parliamentarians perfectly realize the SOR Treaty meets Russia's national interests. "I actually think it will not raise objections, although the leftist Duma opposition will likely remind the Americans about recent developments in Iraq," he said.
Rogozin noted that ratification of the SOR Treaty was postponed from March 21 to a later date as a response to the U.S.- led campaign in Iraq. Now that the war has ended, the situation has changed, he said.