August 31, 1998
Compiled by Dr. Scott Parrish
Return to “The 1998 Moscow Summit” home post
1/3/93: US AND RUSSIA SIGN START II TREATY
Article VI of the START II Treaty specifies that it cannot enter into force until after the 1991 START I Treaty has entered into force. Under the terms of the 1992 Lisbon Protocol to START I, that treaty could enter into force only after Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus joined the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as non-nuclear weapon states and ratified START I. At the time START II was signed, Kazakhstan had already ratified START I, although Belarus and Ukraine had not. None of the three states had yet joined the NPT.
2/4/93: BELARUS RATIFIES NPT, START I
On 4 February 1993, the Belarusian Parliament voted to accede to the NPT as a non-nuclear state and to ratify START I.
11/18/93: UKRAINIAN RADA RATIFIES START I WITH CONDITIONS
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada voted 254-9 (out of 440 members) to ratify START I, but set 13 conditions that must be met prior to the deposition of the instruments of ratification.
12/13/93: KAZAKHSTAN RATIFIES NPT
On 13 Decmember 1993, The Kazakhstani parliament voted 283-1 to accede to the NPT.
1/14/94: UKRAINE, RUSSIA, AND US SIGN TRILATERAL STATEMENT
The US, Russia, and Ukraine signed a Trilateral Statement calling for the complete withdrawal of all nuclear weapons in Ukraine to Russia. In compensation, Russia would provide Ukraine with fuel assemblies for Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Under the terms of the statement, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom agreed to provide Ukraine with security guarantees once Ukraine accedes to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state.
2/3/94: UKRAINE FINALIZES START I RATIFICATION, FAILS TO APPROVE NPT
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada voted overwhelmingly to deposit the instruments of ratification of the START I Treaty and the Lisbon Protocol, accepting President Leonid Kravchuk’s argument that the conditions placed upon ratification of the START I Treaty by the Rada in November 1993 had been satisfied by the January 1994 Trilateral Statement. The Rada narrowly voted against joining the NPT, however.
12/5/94: UKRAINE ACCEDES TO NPT, START I ENTERS INTO FORCE
Ukraine formally acceded to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state party at a ceremony at the CSCE conference in Budapest. The United States, United Kingdom, and Russia, in turn, gave Ukraine a signed document providing security guarantees. France and China issued similar unilateral guarantees. START I entered into force the same day, clearing the way for the already signed START II treaty to take effect after its ratification by Russia and the United States.
4/25/95: LAST NUCLEAR WARHEAD WITHDRAWN FROM KAZAKHSTAN
Russian officials announced on 25 April 1995 that the last former Soviet nuclear warhead had been withdrawn from Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstani Foreign Ministry confirmed this announcement on 25 May 1995.
6/21/95: YELSTIN SUBMITS START II TO DUMA FOR RATIFICATION
President Boris Yeltsin formally submitted START II to the State Duma for ratification.
1/26/96: US SENATE RATIFIES START II
On 26 January 1996, the US Senate ratified START II by the vote of 84-7. Subsequently, Russian President Yeltsin called US President Bill Clinton and pledged to push the Russian parliament to ratify the treaty before the G-7 Moscow summit on nuclear safety scheduled for April 1996.
6/1/96: LAST NUCLEAR WARHEAD WITHDRAWN FROM UKRAINE
11/23/96: LAST NUCLEAR WARHEAD WITHDRAWN FROM BELARUS
1/25/97: US INFORMALLY PROPOSES OUTLINE OF START III
Russian media reported that during his January 1997 visit to Moscow, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott held informal discussions on the framework of a possible START III agreement with Russian officials. The US insists, however, that START II be ratified before formal negotiations on START III begin.
2/15/97: DUMA OPPOSITION VOWS TO BLOCK START II RATIFICATION IF NATO ENLARGES
The opposition National Patriotic Union, a coalition led by Communist Party chief Gennadiy Zyuganov, issued a statement saying that the opposition majority in the Duma will block the ratification of START II if NATO accepts new members from Eastern and Central Europe. Subsequently during 1997 and 1998, opposition leaders in the Duma have linked START II ratification with US policy toward Iraq and the possibility of NATO intervention in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
3/21/97: YELTSIN RENEWS PLEDGE TO RATIFY START II
Meeting in Helsinki on 21 March 1997, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his US counterpart Bill Clinton issued a joint statement on the “Parameters of Future Nuclear Reductions,” aimed at addressing Russian critics of START II. Under its terms, the deadline for dismantling the strategic delivery systems slated for elimination under START II would be extended from 2003 to 2007, reducing destruction costs. Clinton and Yeltsin also outlined a proposed START III treaty that would reduce both countries’ strategic arsenals to the level of 2,500-2,000 warheads by 2007, saving Russia the expense of building several hundred new single-warhead land-based missiles to match US force levels under START II. However, the United States insisted that negotiations on START III could not begin until after START II has been ratified.
4/9/97: DUMA POSTPONES RATIFICATION OF START II
Despite the results of the Helsinki Summit, on 9 April 1997 the Duma voted 166-72 to postpone debate on START II, without setting a date for taking up the issue again.
6/22/97: PRIMAKOV LINKS START II WITH ABM DEMARCATION
Speaking at the G-7 summit in Denver on 22 June 1997, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov said “there are reasons to believe that the Duma will ratify the START II treaty if the talks on the delimitation of the strategic and tactical anti-missile systems are a success.”
9/26/97: START II PROTOCOL, ABM DEMARCATION AGREEMENTS SIGNED
Meeting in New York, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov and his US counterpart Madeleine Albright signed a protocol to the START II treaty on 26 September 1997, extending the deadline for destruction of weapons systems slated for elimination under the treaty from 2003 to 2007. They also exchanged letters in which the US and Russia pledged that pending their destruction, these systems would be “deactivated” by 2003. These agreements codified the understanding reached by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin at the Helsinki Summit in March 1997. Several agreements relating to the ABM Treaty were also signed by Primakov and Albright, including two agreed statements which outline criteria that distinguish theatre missile defense (TMD) systems from strategic ballistic missile defense systems. TMD systems are not regulated by the ABM treaty, while strategic missile defenses are strictly constrained.
11/13/97: US SAYS START II RATIFICATION SHOULD PRECEDE NEXT SUMMIT
US Ambassador to Russia James Collins told a Moscow press conference on 13 November that the next US-Russian summit meeting “will be productive if it takes place in the aftermath of START II ratification,” although he specifically refused to say that Russian ratification of START II was a “condition” for a summit.
4/13/98: YELTSIN SUBMITS START II PROTOCOL, ABM DEMARCATION AGREEMENTS TO DUMA
President Yeltsin formally submitted to the Duma for ratification the US-Russian agreements signed in New York in September 1997, including the protocol to the START II treaty extending the destruction period, and the ABM demarcation agreements.
6/16/98: START II CONFERENCE AT GENERAL STAFF HAS LITTLE IMPACT ON DEPUTIES
After meeting with officials from the Foreign, Finance, and Defense Ministries on 16 June to discuss the development of Russian strategic nuclear forces and ratification of START II, few deputies seemed to have changed their minds about the treaty. According to Duma Defense Committee Chairman Roman Popkovich, most of the deputies attending the workshop “reject the very idea of ratification and their views did not change,” despite arguments in favor of the treaty by the government officials.
7/6/98: CLINTON AGREES TO MEET YELTSIN DESPITE START II RATIFICATION DELAY
US President Bill Clinton announced on 6 July 1998 that he would travel to Moscow in September 1998 for a summit meeting with his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin. The announcement represented a shift in Clinton administration policy. Previously, administration officials had strongly suggested that President Clinton would not meet again with Yeltsin until after the long-delayed START II arms control agreement is ratified by the Russian Federal Assembly.
