MOSCOW Russia's Lower House of Parliament, in a move sure to irritate President Boris Yeltsin, decided on Tuesday not to debate ratification of the START-2 nuclear arms reduction treaty until September. Yeltsin has been urging the state Duma to ratify the 1993 treaty as soon as possible to clear the way for new arms reduction talks with the United States and a summit meeting with President Bill Clinton. Alexei Mitrofanov, chairman of the Duma's Geopolitics Committee, told reporters that parliamentary business managers had decided the debate could not take place before the recess in mid-July.

Washington has already ratified the treaty, which would cut the two countries' deployed nuclear warheads by up to two thirds from about 6,000 each to no more than 3,500 each by the year 2007. The Communist opposition-dominated Duma has been dragging its feet on ratification, saying Russia's security concerns and the price of demolishing missiles should be reviewed following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kremlin aides had been talking about a summit with Clinton this summer, but both sides have agreed there is no point in a meeting, the first for more than a year, without START-2 ratified.

On Tuesday the Kremlin declined to comment on the Duma's decision but said planned talks about START-2 between Yeltsin, Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko and the speakers of Russia's two chambers of parliament would take place on Thursday. (Reuter)