U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, (L), and Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev (R) attend the joint session of the committees in Washington.
Photo: Yury Gripas
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State Duma and Congress Arrange Presidents’ Meeting
International affairs committees of the Russian State Duma and of the U.S. Congress met in Washington. Despite expectations, the discussion did not pour out into publicly sorting out Moscow-Washington relations. It will help to decrease the scale of mutual accusations on the eve of the summit of presidents Vladimir Putin and George Bush on July 1-2.
The current meeting of the international affairs committees of the Russian State Duma and of the U.S. Congress took place in the height of the U.S.-Russia confrontation around the missile defense issue. However, it did not go as far as throwing chairs at each other (like it happened at the session of the U.S.-Mexico parliamentary committee three years ago).
The U.S. congressmen and the Russian Duma deputies discussed the missile defense issue, the CFE treaty, democracy in Russia, energy security, regional conflicts in Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transdniestria. Yet, the parties failed to reach compromise on any of the points of the agenda.
Nonetheless, the lawmakers managed, at least, not to worsen the U.S.-Russia relations on the eve of the summit of presidents Vladimir Putin and George Bush on July 1-2 in Maine. Moreover, sources close to the U.S. Department of State said that the presidents might finalize the U.S.-Russia treaty on nuclear cooperation. Thus, the Duma-Congress meeting was not in vain.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 23, 2007
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