<http://en.rian.ru/world/20060906/53567284.html> Russia-U.S. exercise put off pending status ratification 13:05 | 06/ 09/ 2006
MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - A joint Russian-U.S. exercise, scheduled for late September, will be shelved until parliament's lower chamber ratifies a document on the presence of foreign servicemen in Russia, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament said Wednesday.
The exercise, Torgau-2006, will be postponed until Russia ratifies an agreement on the status of forces between NATO member states and other countries involved in the Partnership for Peace program, a NATO project launched in 1994 to ensure confidence between the bloc and other states in Europe after the collapse of the communist bloc.
"The agreement has been submitted to the State Duma, and the issue [of holding the exercise] will be raised after the document is considered," Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.
But some members of parliament have spoken against the exercise, and the Communist Party is said to be planning a protest rally on September 14.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the exercise would be postponed indefinitely until the agreement was ratified because the military could not guarantee immunity to foreign servicemen. The United States was informed of the decision through diplomatic channels Tuesday.
The exercise, named after the German city of Torgau to mark cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States during World War II, was scheduled to take place in the central Nizhny Novgorod Region.
The first exercise was held in Moscow and the Moscow Region in May 2004, and the second in May-June 2005 in the Moscow Region and Germany.
The exercise aims to develop Russian-U.S. military cooperation and planning of joint operations.
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