Russia's State Duma, in its final session before Sunday's general election, offered an amnesty to those Chechen insurgents prepared to surrender and ratified the latest step in the process of union between Russia and Belarus. Significantly, however, in the current climate of relations with the West, the parliament once again postponed ratification of the START2 nuclear arms reduction treaty.
The Duma - situated in the building which once housed the Soviet state planning agency GOSPLAN - was addressed by the Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, who welcomed the proposed amnesty offer, but stressed that it would not apply to rebels who committed serious crimes such as murder.
The ratification of the latest stage of the union treaty with Belarus was passed as a formality by the house, which is dominated by communists and nationalists, and the decision once again to put off ratification of START2 was more or less expected.
The treaty was signed by the United States and Russia six years ago but each time it has been put to the Duma the answer has been a resounding "Nyet". Under the terms of the treaty, Russia is due to reduce the number of its nuclear warheads to 3,000. The current figure is more than 20,000, which is capable of destroying the planet several times over.
Relations between Russia and the United States are strained at present for a number of reasons. Russia is still smarting over NATO's expansion to its borders and its military intervention in Kosovo. To this has been added the sharp western criticism of Russia's military operation in Chechnya, resulting in President Yeltsin's extraordinary outburst in which he warned the West of his country's nuclear capability during his visit to Beijing last week.
In recent weeks, the two countries have been involved in an old-fashioned cold-war style expulsion of spies. To begin with a diplomat from the US embassy in Moscow was exposed on television seeking confidential information from a Russian citizen and later a Russian diplomat was sent home from Washington for bugging conversations in the State Department.
Under these circumstances, the Duma was extremely unlikely to ratify the treaty on this occasion. A special session has been called for Christmas Eve to discuss the matter further. Despite increased support for Mr Putin in the electorate, the communists are once again expected to be the largest party in the new Duma and START2 seems likely to get as rough a ride as ever next year.
Seamus Martin can be contacted by e-mail at: seamus.martin@russia.com
