Federal Assembly - Parliament of the Russian Federation State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs April 25 1995 To the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation LP Rybkin Dear lvan Petrovich We are sending you the Information Memorandum prepared based on the State Duma s Committee on International Affairs parliamentary hearing on the subject of Russian-American relations The attachment is on 4 pages Chairman ofthe Committee Vladimir Lukin Information Memorandum on the results of the parliamentary hearing on the subject Russian-American relations On April IS 995 the International Affairs Committee ofthe State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation held a parliamentary hearing on the subject Russian- American relations The hearing was attended by Deputies members of the State Duma Committee on Intemational Affairs representatives ofthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofthe Russian Federation the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff ofthe Russian Federation the Russian Security Council the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Ministry of Nuclear Energy of the Russian Federation the State Committee of the Russian Federation on the Defense Industry the Committee on Conventional Problems 0fChemical and Biological Weapons under the President of the Russian Federation Ministry of Science of the Russian Federation the Russian Space Agency as well as experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences and research think tanks 1 Participants of the hearing stated that Russia is interested in building a constructive relationship with the United States The Russian Federation and the United States have common fundamental strategic interests primarily in the areas of maintaining international stability deterrence of new regional centers of power seeking hegemony disarmament and arms control non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction missile technology and ssile materials ensuring nuclear safety the resolution ofregional conflicts and peacekeeping and countering different forms of terrorism On this basis it is possible to set up mutually bene cial cooperation that would include elements of strategic partnership between the two countries However there is another trend that is expressed in the desire of some political circles in the US to take advantage of the sharp change in the balance of power between Russia and the United States in I994 the GDP of Russia was 8-IO percent of the US GDP to weaken Russia rst and foremost its military-strategic and scienti c-technical potential to degrade Russia to the position of a junior partner to make sure that in the Jture Russia would not be a major factor in world politics would not be a force for the US to reckon with Lately the of this approach have increasingly manifested in Washington s practical actions its attempts to dictate and resolve a number ofintemational issues at Russia s expense As noted during the hearing the difficulties in Russian-American relations are primarily caused by the differing important national priorities in the sphere of foreign relations policies and the objective differences between the two sides interests on some issues A number of other circumstances play a negative role as well including the start of the electoral campaigns in both countries and the events in Chechnya which considerably weakened Russia s standing in the world Unfortunately there is still no clearly thought out concept of the development of relations between Russia and the United States The two countries according to the participants of the hearing have not yet completely de ned the goals and models of their behavior towards each other Despite the two countries constructive engagement in a number of important areas there remain elements of the model of mutual deterrence in the strategic nuclear sphere and in military construction in general Relations between Russia and the United States remain complex and contradictory sometimes even assuming an unstable nature though super cially they seem friendly Judging by the assessments made during the hearing in the short-term Russian-American relations will maintain both elements of cooperation and disagreement on a number ofissues In these conditions the optimal course for Russia would be to combine the continuation of efforts to create mechanisms to coordinate jointly make decisions and implement its common interests with the United States with a strict assertion ofits principal positions on the issues that affect Russia s vital interests 2 Participants ofthe hearing expressed the view that the key areas that could serve as a gauge of Washington s sincerity in their stated intent to form partner relations with Russia would be taking into consideration Russia s interests in the sphere of security and disarmament including the harm of the European security system the United States attitude toward the integration processes in the and the US approach to the problems of conversion and preserving the potential of high-technology production facilities in Russia In the sphere of strategic arms reductions it was stated that the realization of the agreement to accelerate implementation of will pose a number of serious practical problems for Russia There is a substantial lack of the required number of specialized storage facilities to accommodate the dismantled nuclear warheads industrial capacity to process the released uranium and plutonium transport tanks for the components of rocket fuel etc Department representatives expressed that the United States did not fully meet its obligations to assist Russia in this eld It was noted that the US push for an early rati cation of START-II is not compatible with delaying the negotiations on missile defense According to the participants the rati cation of the Treaty should be resolved alongside the adoption of criteria for delimitation of strategic and tactical missile defense that would meet Russia s security interests Serious questions are raised by the United States attempts to maintain the potential for building up its nuclear forces if necessary and its simultaneous reduction of similar potential in Russia as well as its attempts to shift the focus to the development ofqualitatively new weapons systems In this Russia is clearly lagging behind due to obvious nancial dif culties In the sphere of European security U S actions to expand NATO in the opinion of the hearing participants directly contradict Russia s national interests and are not in the interest of strengthening security and stability in Europe This issue is of fundamental strategic importance to Russia and ignoring Russia s opinion cannot be seen as anything but the desire to isolate Russia and prevent its integration into the European space In connection with this it was noted that Russia should take into account the prospect of NATO expansion during consultations with the American side on the future of the CFE treaty and other negotiations on disamiament The hearing participants noted the concurrence of Russian and U S interests on the unconditional and inde nite extension and the implementation ofthe Convention on Chemical and Bacteriological Weapons At the same time the insuf cient rate of development of practical Russian-American cooperation in the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles was noted 3 A serious concern was expressed at the hearing about the U S desire to slow down the integration processes in the CIS and link the development of cooperation with Russia to the nature of relations with the newly independent states It was noted that Washington has made attempts to directly and indirectly weaken Russia s influence in the CIS and to prevent the military integration on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty of the Commonwealth Also in its policies towards the post-Soviet states the United States often departs from its declared priority for the principles of democracy and respect for human rights and openly puts its geopolitical goals rst To a large extent there is a double standard in the American approach to the problem of the rights of the Russian-speaking population ofthe CIS and Baltic countries All ofthis affects the ef ciency ofthe Russian- American cooperation in the settlement of regional con icts in the former Soviet Union 4 Participants of the hearing stated that the U S follows a fairly hard line in terms of restricting the export of Russia s high-technology goods to the U S as well as to third countries The question of lifting the existing restrictions on the sale to the United States of Russian uranium has not been resolved There is concern over the implementation of the intergovernmental Russian-American agreement on the use of highly enriched uranium produced as the result of the destruction of nuclear weapons in Russia The United States attempts to pressure Russia regarding Russia s participation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran are totally unjusti ed t was stressed at the hearing that Russia has to take a principled stand on this issue and primarily follow the norms of international law without succumbing to U S attempts to interfere in Russia s cooperation with other countries based on American political and ideological preferences At the same time it was con rmed at the hearing that Russia is interested in developing the scienti c-technical and conversion cooperation with the United States In connection with this there was a generally positive assessment of the work of the Russian-American Commission on Economic-Technological Cooperation Chernomyrdin-Gore as well as the achievements in joint space exploration In general it was concluded in the course of the hearing that there needs to be a concerted effort on the Russian side to form a mutually equal relationship with the United States This relationship would ensure foreign political and economic coordination agreed upon implementation of activities in the international arena the recognition ofthe priority of Russian interests in the Russia's participation with the US in the establishment of a new system of European security and mutual respect for regional interests in terms of maintaining defense capabilities and economic development Source State Archive of the Russian Federation GARF Fond Opis 2 Delo 122 Translated by Anna Melyakova for the National Security Archive 3 WI HAPJXAMEHT 1 OCYAAPCTBEHHAH AYMA IIC lx ukhd 103265 Momma OxomI pap 1 41 5 1 I 35333225 Pooynapcwaenno Hg na nap amenwoxnx anymann Ha TBMY ll pencenarenw Pocynapcmnenno nenepanhuoro Go panua Puccn cno 9332 5 Ynamaemu M333 HanpaBnHeM Ban M opmaunm Harm HDHEQHEHHG Ha 4 n Hpencenamenb nonroTaneHHym no HTOPEM nposene nux no memny aponnum nenam 18 1995 Pocon cxo amepnna c ne 0THome- gig Maw I I5 133 Lm i7 I rvganrrasnnan vna 06m 915211 I Sara 25 04 95 899315 in 40 I II 261 1 I 0 A no HToraM cnymaanH Ha Temy i Pocancxo-auepuxancxne ornamenna no nenaM 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gh orameHHoro ypaHa nonyqaemoro pesyanaTe anepnoro POCCHH A coanHo f aTb naBneHme Ha poccn cxo ABC MpaHe Ha qTo Poccnn Heo xo 'Jo BTOM Bonpoce cneBOBaTb npemne BCBFO J j aM npaBa He Ha ch POCCHH HCXOHH H3 n0- juqecxnx Hneonornqecxnx Hpe nhoeHH Ha cnymaHMBx mna nonTBepmneHa a pMH aTo uenom Be -jgan00Tb poch 0K0 amepMKaH0K0 no BKOHOMqucxomy TeXHono B chxomy Pop a Taxme OCBOBHMH Kocmoca uenom xone anymanu caenaH HBOGXOHHMOCTM BeneHan poccn cxo no anmqann 6B H cnequMe BHemHenonMTqucxo cor fOBaHHoe Ha memnyHaponHo apeHe poccn cxmx CHF POCCHH CMA eBponeHCKo GBBOHBCHOCTH yBameHme 'BHaanBx nnaHe coxpaHeHHB BKOHO- ecxoro                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu