On a day when the Duma, the lower house of parliament, had originally planned to open a debate on START II, deputies refused point blank to look at the ratification bill due to the Kosovo crisis. The house's defence committee deputy chairman Georgy Arbatov told AFP that deputies were unlikely to return to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty soon given the sharp dispute between Moscow and the west over the Balkans. START II has languished in the Duma's in-tray for six years.

``From a political point of view it is impossible to consider the law while a war is going on,'' Arbatov said. ``It is clear that parliament will not consider it.''

``If the conflict is resolved on the basis of a compromise and the war is stopped... we could move onto a new stage in our relations with the west and the UnitedStates,'' he said. ``But for now it is hard to believe in this hostile scenario,'' Arbatov said. ``The position which NATO and the US are taking does not give cause for optimism, so now we can consider that the START II treaty has been put back for a long time.''

TYCOON FIRED FROM CIS POST: Meanwhile, controversial business tycoon Boris Berezovsky was ousted on Friday from his post in the alliance of former Soviet republics. He said he was considering political asylum to avoid arrest. During a summit in Moscow, leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heeded Russian President Boris Yeltsin's demand to dismiss Berezovsky from his post of executive secretary of the coalition. Berezovsky tried to resist the ouster, but couldn't get to Moscow. He said his plane from France was denied permission to enter Russia's airspace and was rerouted to Kiev, Ukraine. Berezovsky, who is seen as a powerful player in Russian politics with close links to Yeltsin's inner circle, was ordered by Yeltsin to vacatehis post last February after losing much of his clout.Prosecutors have opened a probe against him on charges of setting up an illegal bugging network to eavesdrop on government officials. Berezovsky has denied any wrongdoing, but said yesterday that Russian prosecutors planned to arrest him right after his removal from the CIS post.