Federation Council Sends Proposal to Examine Baker-Shevardnadze Agreement to US Senate

The Russian Federation Council is to contact the American Senate with a proposal to 'work constructively together on the Baker-Shevardnadze agreement'. According to Rosbalt's correspondent, this announcement was made yesterday by Alexander Nazarov, the chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Northern Affairs and Small Ethnic Groups and the coordinator of the working group which is looking at the agreement to delimit waters in the Bering Sea.

The decision was taken at the second closed sitting of the working group, which was held at the Federation Council's Committee for International Affairs. The sitting was attended by representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the State Fishing Committee and US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow. According to Nazarov, the Federation Council intends to approach the Russian Government with a proposal to create an inter-ministry commission to examine contentious issues in the agreement, and also send a corresponding proposal to the US Senate.

'If previously the question of delimitating the waters was a political one, it has now become an economic problem,' said Nazarov. He believes that it is necessary to draw up a document regulating US-Russian relations on this issue which takes into account the economic interests of both countries.