NO DEADLINE FOR START II RATIFICATION.

During a regular monthly briefing, Duma chairman Gennady Seleznev informed President Boris Yeltsin that Duma deputies were wary of ratifying the START II Treaty because of NATO’s planned expansion. Although Yeltsin had earlier urged parliament to ratify the treaty before the April 19-20 G-7 summit in Moscow, Seleznev claimed that on this occasion Yeltsin proposed no ratification deadline. (Interfax, March 5)

Emergency Shutdown of Russian Nuclear Plant.