A spokesman for the lower house of the Russian parliament has said the debate on ratifying the START-2 Treaty on nuclear arms reduction is on the agenda for the next parliamentary session, which begins next month.

But the spokesman -- the First Deputy Speaker, Vladimir Ryzhkov -- said this did not mean the treaty would be ratified or even discussed.

He said it simply meant that parliament intended to work towards approving START-2.

Correspondents say the long-delayed approval of the treaty has been put off even further by last week's American-British air strikes against Iraq, which the Russians strongly condemned.

Russia and the United States signed the treaty in 1993, and the US Senate ratified it three years later.