Belarus Ratifies START-1 Pact
The Parliament of Belarus, formerly the Soviet state of Byelorussia, on Thursday ratified the START-1 pact.
The lawmakers voted 218-1 for the treaty, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1991. About 60 other members of Parliament refused to take part in the vote.
The legislature also approved Belarus’ adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, underscoring its wish to be a non-nuclear state.
The outcome, more clear-cut than had been expected, left Ukraine as the only former Soviet republic yet to ratify START-1, under which Russia assumes responsibility for the nuclear arsenal of the old Soviet Union.
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine became parties to START last year under protocols signed in Lisbon. The accord provides for 72 single-warhead SS-25 missiles in Belarus to be transferred to Russia for destruction.
Ratification of START-1 is vital for the implementation of the more ambitious START-2 accord signed by Russia and the United States last month. It calls for the scrapping of about 17,000 missiles.
But Ukraine’s Parliament appears in no hurry to back START-1, with debate now scheduled for March at the earliest.
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