 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2/6/12 |
 |
||||||||
|
 |
Home / Projects & Publications / News |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
RANSAC Nuclear News, October 16, 2003 Compiled By: Matthew Bouldin A. Announcements
 A. Announcements 1. Editorial Note Please forgive the unusual length of today’s issue of RANSAC’s Nuclear News. Because of the shortened business week on account of the Columbus Day holiday, we are sending you a week's worth of news content today. However, we hope it will provide you with this week’s most interesting stories in an easily digestible form. Tomorrow, we will publish a supplementary issue containing the week's various Official Statements. Return to Menu 2. Recent Additions to RANSAC’s Homepage Several new items have recently been posted to RANSAC’s website that may be of interest to Nuclear News readers. First, we have added an electronic version of a letter sent to RANSAC Executive Director Ken Luongo concerning the lapsing of US-Russia nonproliferation agreements. The letter was signed on behalf of Kenneth E. Baker of the National Nuclear Security dministration. It can be found at: http://www.ransac.org/documents/kblettertokl071803.pdf Second, we have added a copy of a letter recently sent by Ken Luongo to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in praise of the successful removal of highly enriched uranium from a nuclear research reactor in Romania. The letter can be found at: http://www.ransac.org/documents/kllettertosa101003.pdf Finally, RANSAC published a pair of fact sheets detailing the developments related to nonproliferation and threat reduction at the 47^th IAEA General Conference and the Bush-Putin Summit at Camp David. These fact sheets can be found, respectively, at: http://www.ransac.org/930200341236PM.html and http://www.ransac.org/1014200372511AM.html Thank you for being a subscriber to RANSAC’s Nuclear News. Return to Menu B. Nuclear Cities Initiative 1. RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR CITIES: SWORDS-TO-PLOWSHARES PROGRAM SUFFERS MELTDOWN The United States has pulled the plug on a controversial program to help steer Russian weapons scientists into civilian work. Last month the U.S. government quietly opted not to renew a 5-year agreement with Russia on the Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort that has channeled $87 million into business development at three once-secret cities devoted to nuclear weapons R&D. Negotiations broke down last month after Russia failed to grant U.S. contractors blanket immunity from legal claims if something were to go awry during an NCI project. Although comprehensive liability provisions are a standard feature of other U.S. nonproliferation programs aimed at helping Russia secure its nuclear stockpile, a recent agreement on similar projects between Russia and several European countries features a shared liability approach. The Russian and U.S. governments "have a disagreement," says NCI director Paul Longsworth. "The U.S. had to draw a line in the sand." Some analysts, however, contend that by letting the agreement lapse, the Bush Administration has signaled its intention to kill NCI. "The Administration's inflexibility on the liability issue demonstrates an unwillingness to try to preserve the NCI program," says J. Raphael Della Ratta of the Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council, a think tank based in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Alexander Pikayev of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow agrees. A senior DOE delegation in Moscow late last month, he says, "seemed to be almost celebrating [NCI's] demise." Figure 1NCI has been dogged by criticism for much of its 5-year life. In May 2001, the U.S. General Accounting Office rebuked NCI management after determining that 70% of the initiative's funds were being spent in the United States. It also accused NCI of creating too few jobs or sustainable commercial ventures in the nuclear R&D cities of Sarov, Snezhinsk, and Zheleznogorsk. Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy echoed those concerns, and members of the U.S. Congress called for the program's termination. In response, NCI officials pushed harder at business and job creation--efforts that seemed to be paying off. A computing center and other new facilities in Sarov "have opened up new job possibilities," says Vitaly Dubinin, deputy director of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics in Sarov. And U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA), an erstwhile NCI critic, is now a convert. "We need to keep our focus on the nuclear cities," he told Science. "The NCI should be renewed." Longsworth says that all 69 NCI programs now under way will continue, including a $9 million cancer diagnostic center in Snezhinsk that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham approved on 19 September--3 days before the agreement lapsed. But no new projects will be funded. Longsworth says it's still possible that a compromise over liability provisions could be reached. Other possibilities, he says, include fusing some NCI components with other DOE efforts, such as the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention, or integrating it into the G8's $20 billion Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, which would allow other nations to share the burden of finding more peaceful pastimes for Russia's nuclear elite. Paul Webster is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Return to Menu C. Sub Dismantlement/K-159 Accident 1. FAULTY KIT BLAMED FOR SUB SINKING A Russian navy captain has launched an outspoken attack on the equipment used to tow a nuclear submarine which sank in the Barents Sea in August, killing nine people. Captain Sergei Zhemchuzhnov, who was in charge of the operation, has been charged over the failed mission, but he told a Russian newspaper the operation was blighted by ancient equipment. Pontoons used to keep the mothballed K-159submarine afloat were made in the 1940s, were not airtight, and were not designed for towing, he told Kommersant newspaper. “As an officer, I didn't have an opportunity to express my personal opinion and had to fulfil the order” -- Captain Sergei Zhemchuzhnov "The devices attaching the pontoons to the sub were welded to the rust-eaten hull which in some places was as strong as foil," he said. The four pontoons themselves were being repeatedly topped up with air, he claimed, and one of the four was "absolutely wrecked" and needed constant reinflating. "They consistently bled down air pressure, and the K-159 crew was assigned to pressurize them every five hours to keep the sub afloat," the captain said. "A structure built of such components can hardly be called reliable," he said. The tragedy happened as the submarine was being towed across the Barents Sea to a scrapyard. The submarine was ripped away from some of the pontoons in rough weather. It tilted on its stern before sinking to the sea bed. Captain Zhemchuzhnov said he was aware of the dangers but was forced to follow orders from his superiors. "As an officer, I didn't have an opportunity to express my personal opinion and had to fulfil the order," he said. Even as the operation began to struggle, Captain Zhemchuzhnov claimed his commanders were slow to react. "I had the impression that the commanders simply couldn't believe that anything might happen to a mothballed submarine," he said. Captain Zhemchuzhnov is the only officer facing criminal charges over the incident, although the Northern Fleet commander, Admiral Gennady Suchkov has been suspended. Operation errors The head of the Russian navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, has blamed Northern Fleet commanders for going ahead with the operation despite a bad weather forecast, and for towing the submarine faster than they should have done. He also said there was no attempt to evacuate the vessel when the operation began to go wrong. Ninety minutes elapsed between the start of the problems and the final sinking of the submarine. Three sailors managed to escape from the submarine, but only one survived the freezing waters of the Barents. The bodies of the other seven are believed to still be in the wrecked vessel, which is lying 238 meters (780 feet) below the surface. Russian navy authorities plan to seek foreign help in lifting the sunken submarine in summer next year. The accident came three years after the Kursk tragedy, when 118 sailors died after their nuclear submarine sank in the same sea on 12 August 2000. Return to Menu D. Cooperative Threat Reduction 1. NUNN TO GET KAZAKHSTANI HONOR AT UGA Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn will receive the "Order of the Dostyk," the Republic of Kazakhstan's highest award for international partners, during the 2003 Richard B. Russell Symposium on Oct. 20 at The University of Georgia. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev awarded the order to Nunn and Sen. Richard Lugar in recognition of their efforts to help Kazakhstan get rid of its Soviet nuclear legacy and enhance global security through the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. Kazakhstan's Ambassador Kanat B. Saudabayev will make the formal presentation of the award to Senator Nunn at a luncheon following the Russell Symposium. The Nunn-Lugar program is designed to help countries of the former Soviet Union destroy, safeguard and prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and materials and address the challenges posed by Soviet-legacy weapons, expertise and materials. The program assisted Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus in destroying the nuclear weapons they inherited from the Soviet Union. Return to Menu E. Multilateral Threat Reduction 1. GERMANY TO BANKROLL PROTECTION OF RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES MOSCOW, OCTOBER 14 (RIA NOVOSTI) - Germany will allocate over seven million euros for physical protection of Russian nuclear facilities. The Russian government has agreed with the German-proposed distribution of these free allocations among nuclear facilities. On Tuesday Mikhail Kasyanov endorsed a corresponding resolution, the official web site of the Russian government says. The government has approved the draft note on Russia's agreement to distribute the allocations made by the FRG government for the realization of projects in 2003 within the framework of the agreements on global partnership against the proliferation of weapons and materials of mass destruction, the report says. The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to send a note of agreement to the FRG government, the nuclear energy and defense ministries to ensure due control over proper use of the allocated sums. The assignments will go to improve physical protection of nuclear materials at the Mayak Industrial Association in the Chelyabinsk region, the Siberian Chemical Combine in the town of Seversk in the Tomsk region /Transuralia/, the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow and a number of other facilities. Return to Menu 2. NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBS TO BE DISMANTLED ON JAPAN'S MONEY MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - Japan is to help Russia in dismantling submarines in the Far East, Japan's ambassador Issei Nomura said Tuesday at a Moscow press conference. There are 41 submarines in the Far East, all of them having been withdrawn from the service to be dismantled in ports. "It is a very important question from the point of view of safety and environmental protection," said the ambassador. "Japan is going to help Russia in dismantling these submarines," continued Nomura. "Technical arrangements are underway to start working with one nuclear-powered submarine agreed upon in a document signed in Vladivostok in June," concluded the ambassador. Return to Menu 3. SWISS MONEY HELPS TO PAY FOR RUSSIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS SCRAPPING Moscow, 14 October: Russia is to make use of Swiss funding for the destruction of especially dangerous toxic weapons, Aleksandr Kharichev, an adviser to the chairman of the State Commission for Chemical Disarmament, told ITAR-TASS today. "The sum of 17m Swiss francs has begun arriving in Russia this year, and over the next five years will be used to build facilities for scrapping toxic agents at stockpiles in the European part of Russia and the Urals," he said. The money from Switzerland will be put towards building chemical weapons destruction facilities at stockpiles at Shchuchye in Kurgan Region and Kambarka in Udmurtia. These two sites contain about 12,000 tonnes of lewisite [blister agent], sarin and zoman [nerve agents], which have been earmarked for destruction and represent about a quarter of all Russia's chemical weapons stockpiles. The USA, Netherlands, Finland, Canada, the UK and EU countries are helping to build the facilities at these sites, although the lion's share of the costs for destroying chemical weapons is being shouldered by Russia. Return to Menu 4. UPI HEARS... (excerpted) [...] German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder took lot of his country's energy bosses along to Ekaterinberg for his Russian summit but President Vladimir Putin slammed the door on the hoped-for bonanza. "We will not divide Gazprom," Putin declared, referring to the giant state-owned gas operation. If Europeans wanted to play a role, "as far as gas is concerned, they will have to deal with the state." Putin went on to assert the Europeans should keep their grubby hands off Russian gas and Russian pipelines, which he described as "the children of the Soviet Union....only Russians can keep them in operating order, even those parts outside the country." The Germans had gone to the Urals city (where the Tsar and his family were slaughtered in 1918) with a big sweetener, a $250 million package of aid and scientists to help clear up the radiation threat of Russia's rusting nuclear subs. It did not help. Putin is furious with the European Union and its Commission for blocking Russia's access to the World Trade Organization -- the EU's leverage to get into Russia's energy assets. Russian premier Mikhail Kasyanov bluntly told Schroeder to get the EU off Russia's back if he wanted any energy deal. [...] Return to Menu F. Strategic Arms Reduction 1. RUSSIA PROVIDES SECURITY GUARANTEES TO OVER 100 COUNTRIES NEW YORK, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia consistently adheres to creation of nuclear-free zones and has already provided security guarantees to over 100 states that have joined international disarmament agreements, said Russia's permanent representative to the UN Sergei Lavrov at the Thursday session of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly's 58th session. As an example of partnership in arms control and disarmament he named the Russian-US Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions that came into force on June 1st, 2003. On the other hand, the disarmament problem has acquired a new dangerous dimension, as terrorists may now receive access to weapons and materials of mass destruction, Lavrov pointed out. Accordingly, most decisive measures should be taken to prevent spread of weapons of mass destruction and means of their transportation, he emphasized. Russia considers North Korea's statement on withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty a mistake, Lavrov said, recalling that Moscow advocated the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula with consideration to all parties' interests. He also expressed support to the IAEA efforts to clarify questions aroused by Iran's nuclear program. Return to Menu G. Missile Defense 1. NEW MISSILE DEFENCE, NEW SMOKESCREENS The US Congress' General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a 40-page report concluding that if elements of the first stage of the national missile defence system (NMD) worth 22 billion dollars are put on combat duty, unplanned expenses could be incurred and technical malfunctions may happen. The report points out that only two of the ten new technologies planned for use have been thoroughly tested and judged to be reliable. They are the warhead infrared sensors and the BMD (ballistic missile defence) fire-control computer software. The rest are still at the trial and development stage. It is obvious from the report that should this system be put into operation in late 2004, it will be nothing more than a scarecrow and not a genuine defence system, Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's former Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, said about the NMD's first stage. So what is going on? Has the new missile defence system failed? Or are the US strategists and designers concerned about some NMD elements, and not the system as a whole, particularly those elements which the general public knows nothing about? The ballistic missile defence (BMD) concept has a long and complicated history hidden by a number of smokescreens. In other words, the USA proclaims certain plans and technologies, while the genuine goal and essence of the project are completely different. The successful launch of the first Soviet intercontinental missile in August 1957 initiated a series of programmes in the Soviet Union and the USA designed to create systems to repel new type of weapons, including nuclear missiles. The Soviet Union completed the creation of the A-35 ballistic missile defence system in 1967, almost simultaneously with the USA. It is based on the B-1000 two-stage interceptor missile that can hit difficult ballistic targets. By that time, military analysts and politicians in the two countries had come to see that any BMD system was a destructive element in principle. This problem has a dangerous aspect which few non-specialists know about. No matter how powerful a BMD system, it cannot be impenetrable. In reality, a BMD system can intercept only a limited number of warheads and dummy targets. Consequently, it is more effective against a retaliatory strike by the other side when a considerable, and possibly overwhelming, part of the enemy's strategic nuclear forces has been destroyed in the first strike. Thus, if the sides have major BMD systems, they will serve as an additional impetus for a first strike in a military crisis. Accordingly, the Soviet Union and the USA agreed to discuss the limitation of ballistic missile defence systems, which resulted in the signing of the ABM Treaty in 1972 and a protocol to it in 1974. This seemingly solved the problem, but this was not the case in reality. On March 23, 1983 President Ronald Reagan unveiled the Strategic Defence Initiative programme, immediately dubbed Star Wars. It inflicted great damage on Soviet-US relations and provoked an unprecedented arms race and mind-boggling military expenses. The situation only began to improve in the early 1990s. The USA officially closed the programme in 1993 because its target, the Soviet Union, had disappeared from the political map of the world. This again seemed to solve the problem. But on December 13, 2001 the USA declared its withdrawal from the 1972 ABM Treaty and officially announced its intention to create a global strategic BMD system. It is only logical that in this case the USA should also build up its nuclear missile arsenal as a guarantee of its own security and an instrument of pressure in crisis situations. Developments proceeded along the same lines in 1983, when the USA accelerated both the Star Wars programme and the creation of the MX ICBM. However, in the past years the US administration has been consistently reducing allocations on nuclear programmes and its nuclear deterrence forces. The 2004 military budget of $368.7 billion slashed allocations to new nuclear research by 50 million dollars to $27.1 billion, with the lion's share to be spent not on nuclear weapons research but on the creation of prospective sources of energy. At the same time, the USA has allocated over $150 billion on existing and perspective GPS-based precision-guided weapons. The thing is that the USA no longer views nuclear systems as strategic offensive weapons; this role has been given to non-nuclear precision-guided weapons. Let us return to 1983 and the subsequent years. The programme we recommend is not focused on the so-called Star Wars weapons, which constitute less than a quarter of its volume. The bulk of our efforts are directed at creating space-based effective sensitive means of target surveillance, detection, tracking and evaluation. This is what James C. Fletcher, head of the defence technologies group within the SDI programme, said in the book "Deep Black" by William Burrows, which was published in New York in 1986. Today, there is an interesting document, The US Space Command Vision for 2020, which is used for the elaboration of US strategic programmes, including the BMD one. The document focuses on expanding the possibilities of the US armed forces through the daily use of military satellite systems in peacetime and during military (including non-nuclear) conflicts. Therefore, the failure of the first stage of the NMD system, which the GAO highlights in its report, does not mean that the US administration has not attained its goals. Using strategic defence programmes as a cover, the USA is working to build up its group of reconnaissance and combat control satellites. In other words, this is a repetition of 1983 with its smokescreens. As in 1983, today one of the sides is striving for strategic superiority -- but not in the proclaimed area. It has shifted direction from nuclear to precision-guided weapons. It is therefore evident that the main threat to strategic stability in Russia-US relationship comes from spy satellites and GPS weapons systems. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA, USA WORK OUT PLANS OF COOPERATION IN TACTICAL MISSILE DEFENSE COLORADO SPRINGS, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the USA began working out plans of cooperation in theatre missile defense, Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists after talks with his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld in Colorado Springs (USA). "We have begun working on the instructions given to us by the presidents of the two countries during the Camp David summit," the minister pointed out. Similar cooperation in this field is being held with NATO, Ivanov reported. Specific plans exist in both cases, but for understandable reasons I cannot speak about them in more details, the minister emphasized. Sergei Ivanov stated that he had discussed with his American colleague the problem of mass destruction weapons. "This is now the most real threat," Ivanov stressed. "I focused Rumsfeld's attention on the fact that it is more dangerous for Russia than for the USA. I reminded him that Russia borders on 17 states, including on not calm ones while the USA has only two neighbors which are peaceful - Canada and Mexico," the Russian minister underlined. He also reported that at the meeting with Rumsfeld they discussed all the problems concerning the struggle against international terrorism. Sergei Ivanov stressed that Russo-American relations reached such a level of trust that during his visit to Colorado Springs he was shown one of the most secret facilities of the US airspace command system. "I saw such installations earlier too, on the Russian territory and want to say that as a result of the exchange of experience in this field we have come the conclusion that all experts act and plan their work on serious facilities in one and the same way, the minister said. "This confirms that we are planning the modernization of the armed forces in a right way, taking into account new relations with NATO and the USA and with the purpose of the joint adaptation to new threats and challenges," Ivanov pointed out. Return to Menu 3. RUSSIA-NATO STAND ON EUROPE THEATRE ABM CLOSER COLORADO SPRINGS (USA), October 10 (Itar-Tass) - Notable progress has been achieved in the talks on the Europe theatre ABM system during the consultations between Russia and NATO, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov stated here on Friday after the end of informal meeting of the NATO defence ministers, in which he took part. "A joint group has been set up within the Russia-NATO Council and is effectively working on problems of theatre anti-missile defence. Its mandate and interaction program were fixed this year for the period of up to 2005," Ivanov stated. Problems of theatre ABM are being discussed not only within the framework of the Russia-NATO relations, but also between Russia and the United States, he added. Itar-Tass was reminded at the Russian Defence Ministry that "a working group was formed within the Council on June 11, 2002, mainly designed to iron out the differences in technical standards, on the basis of which ABM systems were set up in Russia and in the countries of the alliance". Moreover, "the group was also charged with the task of working out a joint experimental theatre ABM concept". Addressing a meeting at the Russian Defence Ministry last week, President Putin said Russia was ready to cooperate "with all the states and with our partners, including on such a sensitive problem, for instance, as the establishment of anti-missile defence systems". "We have discussed it in detail with the U.S. president at Camp David," Putin added. In this connection, Ivanov said, "we have begun concrete practical work on the assignments, which the two presidents gave us during the Camp David summit". "Parallel with this, we are engaged in similar cooperation with NATO," the minister noted. First Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky had earlier stated that "a Russo-American ABM exercise could be held already at the end of 2003 or early in 2004. However, the general also noted that there were some differences on the format of the exercise. Russia prefers its dimensions to be conformable to the entire theatre of military actions and wants only Russia and the United States to take part in them, while assigning the role of observers to the other NATO countries. For its part, the Pentagon prefers to polish off ABM problems of the North American continent in the course of the exercise, while assigning the role of observers to Russia and NATO. Return to Menu H. Counterproliferation 1. RUSSIA SPURNS WEAPONS HUNT PLAN RUSSIA has hurt efforts to stop North Korea's trade in weapons of mass destruction and missile technology by rejecting a global plan to intercept suspect cargoes. But 50 other countries have added their support to the 11-nation US-led Proliferation Security Initiative following a flurry of diplomatic activity by Australia and other member countries in the past month. The PSI was founded by US President George W.Bush in May to stop weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists. Its first maritime interception exercise was held off the Queensland coast in September, drawing claims from North Korea that it was "provocative" and an "act of war". Russia's ambassador to Australia and former North Korean trade negotiator Leonid Moiseev said Russia could not involve itself in the PSI. "I can say very frankly that it would be a very difficult for us to join the initiative," he said. "The basic difference (between us and the member countries) is both China and Russia have a common border with North Korea ... We are immediate neighbours and Russia and China have big Korean communities within our borders. "Both Russia and China have a lot to lose." Six-way Beijing-sponsored diplomatic talks were the only way to resolve the nuclear stand-off, he said. The crisis follows North Korea admitting in October last year that it had a nuclear program. A source close to the PSI said last night the 50 new nations would not join the PSI but could be co-opted if a rogue ship or aircraft entered their waters or airspace. Return to Menu I. Russia-Iran 1. KHATAMI, PUTIN DISCUSS IRAN-RUSSIA NUKE COOPERATION Putrajaya, Malaysia, Oct 16, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Thursday exchanged views on the latest developments in the region and the world, Tehran-Moscow cooperation in the field of nuclear technology and the Caspian Sea and ways to achieve progress and development. President Khatami said in the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the OIC Summit, Iran will not give up its legitimate right to use nuclear energy for civilian application in the face of the anti-Iran propaganda campaign. President Khatami said Iran will exercise full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to remove any skeptical views about Iranian national program. Putin is taking part in the OIC Summit as a guest. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSSED COOPERATION IN THE CASPIAN REGION PUTRADJAYA (Malaysia), October 16, 2003 During the meeting at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit in Malaysia on Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami among other issues discussed mutual cooperation in the Caspian region focusing on protection and regeneration of bio-resources, announced deputy head of the Russian presidential administration Sergei Prikhodko. According to Mr. Prikhodko, Mr. Putin welcomed the announcement made by the Iranian President that Iran does not have the intention of developing any kind of nuclear programs, which might contradict Iran's international pledges in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation. Mr. Prikhodko said that the Russian President called for the continuation and development of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, earlier reiterated by the Iranian side. Return to Menu 3. RUSSIA GETS TOUGHER WITH IRAN OVER NUCLEAR PROGRAM Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Russia has announced a one-year delay for the start-up of the controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor it is building for the Iranians, although there has been no talk in Moscow about dropping the agreement altogether. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in Vienna for talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran should provide the U.N. agency with full information on all of its nuclear programs. He also urged Tehran to sign an additional protocol to the Nonproliferation Treaty, in order to boost international confidence in Iranian nuclear programs. Although Iran insists its nuclear program is designed for purely peaceful energy purposes, it has refused to sign the additional protocol, which would allow for comprehensive IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, without notice. Russia's RIA news agency quoted Ivanov as saying he hoped that multilateral and bilateral efforts would ensure progress on the issue. On Monday, Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry spokesman announced that the 1,000 megawatt light-water nuclear reactor at Bushehr would be launched in 2005 and not next year, as planned earlier. The delay makes it unlikely Iran would receive electricity from the reactor before 2006. The spokesman insisted that the reasons for delay were "technical" - not political. Officials from both governments have stressed that the cooperation at Bushehr was continuing. To address international concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons, Russia said earlier it would freeze construction on the $1 billion plant on Iran's Gulf coast and would not begin delivering fuel for the reactor until Iran signs an agreement undertaking to return all spent fuel back to Russia for reprocessing and storage. This would prevent the Iranians from getting any material for nuclear weapons from the plant. The agreement was reported last month to be on the verge of being signed, but has so far failed to materialize. The IAEA has given Tehran until the end of October to prove that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program. If it fails to meet the deadline, the agency will refer the issue to the Security Council, which could consider punitive measures against Iran. Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, opposes any forceful action against Tehran. "Events in Iran must not develop according to Iraqi scenario," Ivanov remarked on Tuesday. Russia has long come under fire from the West for its help in building the Bushehr plant, but has refused calls to stop, saying it would only stop construction if the IAEA found solid evidence that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The Kremlin has repeatedly argued that it abides by international agreements banning the proliferation of nuclear technologies. Return to Menu 4. RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET WITH IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL MOSCOW, October 14th, 2003 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is to meet Mohamed ElBaradei, International Atomic Energy Agency director general, in Vienna Tuesday. "I expect Mr. ElBaradei to provide first-hand information on the work of IAEA experts who are holding talks in Iran at present," Russia's foreign minister said yesterday at a news conference in Bern. According to Ivanov, he is planning to discuss the whole scope of Russia-IAEA relations at today's talks with ElBaradei. "The discussion is very much likely to touch upon such issues as the nuclear programmes in Iran and North Korea, and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," said Ivanov. Speaking of Russia's position on the Iran situation, Ivanov noted that Moscow would like all concerns related to its nuclear programmes to be removed. The programme should have exclusively peaceful goals. "We deem it necessary that Iran join the supplementary Protocol to the Agreement on IAEA Guarantees," Ivanov went on to say. "It would, no doubt, promote an expanded interaction and higher level of co-operation between Iran and the IAEA," the Russian minister emphasised. Moscow fully shares the IAEA's position on the need for Iran to comply with the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Russian Foreign Ministry reports. In particular, Russia has stated its willingness to work with Tehran in an effort to persuade the Iranian side into signing the Protocol, on which the IAEA is insisting. IAEA Council of Governors has passed a resolution, which sets the deadline for Iran's signing of the Protocol before October 31. The president of Iran has already announced that Tehran has started negotiations on the issue. In addition, Russia plans to sign an additional protocol with Iran on the return of spent fuel which will be used at Iranian nuclear power plants (so far it will only have to do with one Nuclear station in Bushehr, which is being constructed by Russian engineers). Moscow has reiterated on multiple occasions that its co-operation with Iran in the field of nuclear power is in full compliance with international norms. Still, according to President Vladimir Putin, Russia wouldn't have some far-fetched suspicions of its co-operation with Iran in the armaments sphere "used as a pretext for unfair competition on the world markets, Iran included." As for the North Korean nuclear programme, Russia and the IAEA share the same position on the issue: nuclear weapons are inadmissible on the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Foreign ministry reports. Moscow has repeatedly said that North Korea made a mistake by withdrawing from the NPT, because this demarche was fraught with dangerous consequences. Return to Menu 5. BUSHEHR NUKE PLANT UNIT 1 TO START WORK LATER. RUSSIA BLAMES TECHNOLOGY, IRAN SUSPECTS OTHERWISE MOSCOW, October 13, 2003. (RIA Novosti) - Unit One of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran will be commissioned later than expected-toward the end of 2005 or mid-year, at the earliest, an anonymous functionary of Russia's Ministry of Nuclear Power Industry said to Novosti. The commissioning was expected toward this year's end but blueprints were amended with construction problems. The unique project was started by Germany. As Russia took over the construction efforts, a part of available equipment turned out not to suit technologies of Russian design and manufacture, so new equipment had to be purchased, and things settled as late as last summer's end. A detailed construction schedule is being drafted, and expected to have been coordinated with Iran before the year's end. 2005 has been appointed as reliable commissioning deadline proceeding from the draft. Iran may approve the schedule or turn it down, as the case may be. One thing is clear-the unit will not start work this year, said our informant. Iran is anxious to have the plant commissioned as soon as possible, and so full of suspicion. It is nagging Russia with accusations of procrastination. Iran alleges US pressure on Russia with assumptions of Iran manufacturing nuclear arms. "As it really is, there are no politics in the matter, I stress. All problems are purely technical," said the interviewee. Return to Menu 6. IRAN'S NUCLEAR REACTOR START-UP DELAYED Russia on Monday announced a year's delay until 2006 for the start-up of Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor - a move that wins it time to push for greater compliance by Tehran with the International Atomic Energy Authority's supervision demands. Russia's atomic energy ministry said the new timetable was a "technical decision" as a result of detailed work by a commission of experts from Iran and Russia, which is supplying technology and materials for the $1bn (?848m, £600m) contract. A Russian official stressed there were no politics involved in the latest delay to the Bushehr plant, and that the new timing was in no way linked to discussions with the IAEA that Iran sign its "additional protocol" that would impose stricter supervision on its nuclear programme. He said talks were far advanced on the signing of a separate contract for the return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing and storage, probably for a duration of 10 years, which were not conditional on agreement by Iran to the IAEA's additional protocol. The IAEA's governing board last month set a deadline of October 31 for Iran to provide inspectors with assurances that it had not diverted nuclear material to weapons use. Failure to meet the deadline would escalate the dispute by sending it to the United Nations Security Council. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that Russia supports the IAEA's demands, while arguing that Bushehr cannot be misused for military purposes and that international pressure should not be used to jeopardise Russia's commercial nuclear interests abroad. However, the latest remarks came after a series of previous deadlines for the completion of talks and the signature of the contract have been missed, and at a time when Russia has come under growing pressure to push Iran to comply with the IAEA's requirements. They also followed a statement to Reuters on Monday by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled opposition group, that it had information on another nuclear facility hidden from IAEA inspectors. Moh- ammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, has been invited to Tehran this Thursday, although he has not confirmed whether he will go. Mr ElBaradei said last week in an interview with the Financial Times that IAEA inspectors had received fresh information from the Iranian authorities, but that the amount and flow of information remained inadequate. Separately on Monday, the European Union issued a blistering attack on Iran's human rights record but held back from agreeing to table or co-sponsor a United Nations General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations. In a session devoted to human rights in Iran, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg criticised the country's use of the death penalty, public executions, torture, amputation as a punishment and arbitrary detentions. However, ministers insisted the establishment of a dialogue with Iran was "without prejudice to the tabling or co-sponsoring of a resolution at the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly [on human rights] or the Commission on Human Rights". The third committee is responsible for human rights. It is expected to issue a resolution on Iran by later this month. The EU wants to maintain for a long as possible its human rights dialogue that started with Iran 10 months ago. The reformers believe the dialogue is one way to introduce reforms and prevent Iran from being isolated. Return to Menu 7. RUSSIA CONTINUES NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH IRAN Moscow, Oct 13, IRNA -- Spokesman of Russia Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko said here Monday that Russia is determined to continue its nuclear cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Speaking to reporters, he said Russia supports the current cooperation between Tehran and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On the results of talks between Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov and Iranian officials, he described the outcome of negotiations at mutual and international level as `positive`. In conclusion, he underlined further expansion of cooperation between Iran and Russia at various fields. Return to Menu 8. RUSSIA, IRAN STRESS POLITICAL, PARLIAMENTARY TIES Moscow, Oct 13, IRNA -- Head of Russia`s State Duma Security Commission in a meeting here Monday with Iranian Ambassador to Russia Gholam-Reza Shafei stressed the need to expand Tehran-Moscow relations, notably in parliamentary affairs. Alexander Gourov referred to the developments in Russia and Chechen presidential elections as issues that bodes well for the country. He also criticized the US on its `unethical` relations with Russia and over the former`s policy in Iraq. The American government and some of the Western European countries have tried, through various schemes, to ostracize Russia in international markets, he added. He said Russia, despite 13 years of pressure by the West, has kept its independence and importance in world affairs. Shafei touched on Iran`s relations with Russia and the former`s constructive cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He further brushed aside any politicizing of Iran` stance with the nuclear watchdog agency calling it `unacceptable`. Meanwhile, in a related news, Tehran said here last week that it will put its signature to the protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia, Shafei told Tass in an interview. Both countries have agreed to sign an agreement spent nuclear fuel would be returned to Russia. "Negotiations are currently in progress on coordinating technicalities. We are hoping the protocol will be signed soon in Tehran or Moscow." Gholam-Reza Shafei expressed the hope Russia and Iran would continue their peaceful cooperation in the Bushehr nuclear power plant construction project. "All work there has been conducted in compliance with international agreements and rules. We are hoping the work will proceed on time, and bilateral cooperation will continue further on," he added. Return to Menu 9. RUSSIAN AID TO IRAN'S NUKE PLANTS WITHIN IAEA STANDARDS, SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY MOSCOW, October 13, 2003. (RIA Novosti) - Russian-Iranian partnership for nuclear plant construction does not trespass IAEA principles. That is why Russia stays true to that partnership, Alexander Yakovenko, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a Novosti news conference. The IAEA Board of Governors made a resolution, last month, for Iranian nuclear program transparency. Russia is enthusiastic about a related dialogue the resolution launched. Bushehr plant commissioning has been put off from 2004 to 2005, rumours say. No information on that score has reached the ministry for now, Mr. Yakovenko added. Return to Menu 10. RUSSIA, IRAN TO BROADEN COOPERATION IN TACKLING INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROBLEMS MOSCOW. Oct 12 (Interfax) - Russia and Iran held one more round of consultations on international security and ways to combat terrorism in Teheran on October 11. Leader of the Russian delegation, First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov met with chief of the Iranian National Security Council Khasan Roukhani, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi and Deputy Foreign Minister Mokhsen Aminzade. The main accent was put on efforts to combat international terrorism and drug trafficking at bilateral, regional and global levels, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a release posted on the Internet on Sunday. The parties exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq the Caspian region, Central Asia and the Transcaucasus. Russia and Iran expressed readiness to broaden cooperation in dealing with traditional and new challenges to international security, and agreed to continue their dialogue on these problems, the Foreign Ministry said. Return to Menu 11. RUSSIAN FIRST DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO IRAN TEHERAN, October 12 (Itar-Tass) - Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov told Itar-Tass before his departure from Teheran on Sunday that the talks in the Iranian capital had been encouraging and were designed to develop and strengthen interaction on wide range of international and bilateral issues. Trubnikov has finished a two-day working visit to Teheran during which he held talks with the leadership of the Iranian Foreign Ministry and other high-ranking Iranian officials. The sides discussed the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq, joint struggle against drugs smuggling as well as Russian-Iranian relations. Trubnikov noted that the negotiations had passed in the atmosphere of openness and trust. They revealed the closeness of views and desire to continue bilateral consultations. Russia and Iran believe that a delay in the solution of urgent problems may have unpredictable consequences for Afghanistan. The more so that the remaining militants from the Taliban movement are becoming more active under such circumstances, and the internal strife is increasing in Afghanistan. The Russian diplomat said that during the talks in Teheran the sides had expressed a common opinion on the need to undertake effective measures to combat the drug business in Afghanistan. The cultivation of opium popper in the Afghan fields and the export of drugs from the country should be stopped. Russia welcomes Iran's serious intentions to continue talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on signing a supplementary protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Trubnikov told Itar-Tass on Saturday. He highly appreciated the results of his talks with Iranian officials in Teheran and called them "quite encouraging". He noted the existence of mutual understanding and similarity of views on many problems, including the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. Commenting on nuclear issues, Trubnikov said that the talks had made it clearer that the Iranian side was showing growing understanding of the need to make its nuclear program more transparent. Teheran said that it was ready to answer any IAEA questions even if they are going to be weird. The Russian diplomat said that the sides hadn't discussed any concrete deadline for the signing of a supplementary protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but it was apparent that in response to Iran's desire to continue the talks the IAEA should also try to avoid a super tough position. The IAEA inspectors who are working in Iran will have to prepare a report, the studying of which will also take time, Trubnikov went on to say. In other words, an ultimatum is unlikely to be issued to Iran immediately after October 31. Iran would like to get the guarantees that new conditions are not going to be put up after the protocol is signed. As far as the Russian-Iranian protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel, the possible deadline and place of signing haven't been discussed. Trubnikov said that all the difficulties related to the signing of that document had been overcome and that the only remaining problems were technical issues in the financial sphere. RF coop with Iran not run counter IAEA principles - Yakovenko. Return to Menu 12. MOSCOW BELIEVES IRAN IS PART OF INTERNATIONAL ANTI-TERRORIST COALITION TEHRAN, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - A wide range of international problems and bilateral cooperation will be considered during the Russian-Iranian consultations, Russian first deputy foreign minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov told Russian journalists when he arrived in the Iranian capital on Friday. "We will discuss, within the framework of the consultations, the development of the Iranian nuclear power industry, the questions pertaining to the additional protocol to the non-proliferation treaty and agreements reached between Iran and Russia on returning the spent nuclear fuel which will be delivered for the Bushehr nuclear power plant," the diplomat said. "Regional problems will be in the focus of attention, in particular Afghanistan, which worries both Iran and Russia," Trubnikov pointed out. He also said that the participants in the consultations will consider the question: Iraq and the struggle against international terrorism when applied to the situation in Afghanistan and in a more wide sense. "In the course of the meetings with representatives of western countries and the USA," the diplomat said, "we always say that Iran is a part of the anti-terrorist coalition and there can be no other interpretations concerning this issue." Trubnikov is expected to meet on Saturday with Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi, secretary of the supreme national security council Hasan Rouhani and other high-ranking officials. Return to Menu 13. RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: IRAN INTERESTED IN JOINING IAEA INTERNATIONAL REGIMES COLORADO SPRINGS, USA, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - It is in Iran's interests to join all IAEA international regimes, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov believes. He said this after the unofficial meeting of NATO and Russian defense ministers held in Colorado Springs, the USA, in response to the question whether he believed that Iran did not strive after acquiring nuclear weapons. "It is not a matter of belief or supposition, Iran should convince the international community using legal norms of international legislation and IAEA procedures that there is no such weapons on its territory," the Russian minister emphasized. "We have to send Iran an unequivocal message that it is in its own interests to join all IAEA documents," he pointed out. At the same time Ivanov decisively denounced the preservation of double standards concerning weapons of mass destruction and anti-terrorist fight. "At the informal meeting we raised the issue of working out common game rules, single standards of approaching the problems of non-proliferation and fight against terrorism," Ivanov said. As an example, he named the situation with cooperation in the Iranian city of Bushehr on construction of a nuclear power plant, where "Russia does not violate any international regime, but is still accused by the West of supporting development of nuclear arms programs." "We cannot accept such accusations when we know about other facilities where some western countries supply similar equipment. If it were ours, the whole world would literally explode with criticism and objections. However, it does not happen here and we consider it a policy of double standards," the minister pointed out. The situation is similar with the fight against terrorism, he added. "Unfortunately, there are cases when some states do not cooperate with us on extradition of individuals that have been recognized as terrorists by international organizations," the Russian minister emphasized. Return to Menu J. Russia-North Korea 1. MOSCOW FOR FURTHER SIX-PARTY TALKS ON KOREAN ISSUE MOSCOW, OCTOBER 16 (RIA NOVOSTI) - Russia is for the continuation of talks on the Korean problem in the six-party format, Alexander Yakovenko, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday. He was answering the Japanese media's question on the DPRK's demand to remove Japan from the talks. "We view the six-party talks, held in Beijing in late August, as the beginning of a hard road towards settling the situation on the Korean peninsula. Holding them is in itself a positive step towards the easing of tensions. We believe that at this stage it is of exceptional importance to continue the many-sided negotiating process in this format. For that, verified, calm and coordinated steps by all participants in the Beijing talks without exception are required," Alexander Yakovenko said. "It is to be noted that the principled positions of all the involved parties without exception, despite their well-known differences, mainly coincide - the existing problems should be settled peacefully and a situation is to be ensured when the Korean peninsula ceases to be a source of nuclear danger," the Russian diplomat said. On October 7 the DPRK leadership came out with the demand to exclude Japan from the number of participants in the negotiations for settling the situation on the Korean peninsula. Now the negotiating parties are Russia, the United States, the DPRK, the Republic of Korea and Japan. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA PRESSING FOR MORE TALKS ON NKOREA'S NUC PROBLEM BEIJING, October 10 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is "exerting efforts at all the levels to continue the six-nation talks on the nuclear problem of North Korea", Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia Konstantin Pulikovsky, who is on a visit here, told reporters on Friday. The efforts to continue the dialogue are being exerted both at the summit and at other levels, including at the level of the presidential plenipotentiary representative, he stated. Pulikovsky noted that the leaders of every country concerned have their own points of view on the problem. "The Russian stand is immutable - we want the Korean Peninsula to be turned into a nuclear-free zone," Pulikovsky stressed. Return to Menu K. Russian Nuclear Forces 1. ARKHANGELSK SUB SUCCESSFULLY FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The nuclear underwater cruiser Arkhangelsk of the Russian Northern Fleet has successfully completed the underwater firing of a ballistic missile. "The nuclear underwater cruiser Arkhangelsk of the Northern Fleet at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday successfully competed the firing of a ballistic missile from the White Sea at the Kura testing ground in Kamchatka," Captain Igor Dygalo, aide to the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, told Interfax on Wednesday. The missile warhead successfully met the target, he said. Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, has commended Captain Vladimir Volkov and the crew of the cruiser on their professionalism in performing this exercise, Dygalo said. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA: MOSCOW STRUGGLES TO CLARIFY STANCE ON PREEMPTIVE FORCE Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in recent days have made vague and sometimes conflicting statements on Russia's position on the use of preemptive strikes. The debate comes as the international community itself is struggling to define preemptive force. RFE/RL's Moscow correspondent looks at the policy concerns that may be underlying the Russian officials' words. Moscow, 14 October 2003 (RFE/RL) -- Would Russia throw the first punch if it felt threatened? For days now, observers have been trying to make sense of statements by President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on what appears to be Moscow's preemptive-strike policy – both nuclear and conventional. On 9 October, Putin told journalists in Yekaterinburg that Russia "retains the right to launch a preemptive strike, if this practice continues to be used around the world." Putin did not specify whether or not he would limit such strikes to conventional weapons. But the remark echoed a statement he made earlier this month -- boasting about the possibility of taking SS-19 missiles out of storage. "Russia retains a significant number -- I want to emphasize this -- a significant number of land-based, strategic missiles," he said. "I am talking about our most menacing missiles, the [SS-19]. I am talking about very serious potential, about tens of rockets." Defense Minister Ivanov also attempted to explain Russia's position in remarks on 6 October. Speaking at a news conference in Reykjavik, Ivanov said Moscow can use preventive military force in cases where a threat is growing and is "visible, clear, and unavoidable." Ivanov added a key detail, saying that military force can be used "if there is an attempt to limit Russia's access to regions that are essential to its survival, or those that are important from an economic or financial point of view." So is Russia attempting to lay out its own preemptive-strike policy? The notion of preemption -- the use of military and covert force to disarm an enemy before it can launch a strike of its own -- has been back in the news since U.S. President George W. Bush declared it a viable approach to the war on terrorism. The U.S. leader argues that a new era of military and terrorist threats requires preemptive responses. Strictly speaking, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter allows states to use military force without Security Council clearance only in the instance of self-defense. But the debate is still raging over whether preemptive action falls under Article 51 or not. Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer writes off the statements by Putin and Ivanov as yet another example of Russian political double-speak – when Russian politicians assume a tough posture to please audiences at home but are more conciliatory abroad. "There's nothing new," he said. "Really, the statements were for domestic consumption, since later, [at the meeting of NATO defense ministers] in Colorado Springs, Ivanov said Russia's nuclear-weapons policy would remain the same, that nuclear weapons would remain a means of political deterrence." Indeed, at a NATO meeting on 10 October, Ivanov quite clearly sought to allay the military alliance's concerns that Russia might use a preemptive nuclear strike to ward off a potential threat. "Russia's doctrine differs from the American doctrine," Ivanov said. "Under no circumstances would Russia be the first to strike with nuclear weapons." NATO is concerned about a document dubbed the "Ivanov doctrine," in which the minister warns that Russia will be forced to change its nuclear strategy if NATO continued its "offensive" doctrine. The document is meant as a corollary to Russia's military doctrine adopted in May 2000. That doctrine states that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies, as well as in response to large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation. Nikolai Zlobin, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information in Washington, told RFE/RL that Russia's policy is no different from those of other nuclear countries. "In extreme cases, any of them would consider using it," he said. Zlobin also noted the concept of preemption is not new to Russian policy. "The Bush doctrine took a lot from the Brezhnev doctrine. Preventive strikes were used by the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia in 1968, in Hungary, in Germany -- all those were preemptive strikes. But the problem with Russia is that its preemptive strikes can potentially be used in its sphere of influence -- and that, of course, concerns Eurasia," Zlobin said. In Reykjavik, Ivanov said Russia would act to defend regions beyond its own borders, encompassing large parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Russian defense minister said that, in case of "instability in the CIS" or a "direct threat" to Russian citizens in the region, Russia can "hypothetically" use force if other means of coercion -- like diplomatic and economic sanctions -- fail. The remarks raised alarm bells in some parts of the CIS. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze took Ivanov's statements -- especially those regarding the rights of Russian compatriots -- as a covert threat to his country. The Georgian leader said, "Russia means Georgia when it talks about preemptive strikes." Last year Georgian authorities accused the Russian military of launching several bombing raids on Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, which Moscow claims is a haven for Chechen separatists. Zlobin agreed that Ivanov could have been directing some of his Reykjavik remarks at Georgia. "As far as I can understand, the concept behind the strikes [in Georgia] last year was not an attempt to change Tbilisi's policy, but -- at least according to statements made by Russian officials -- the destruction of terrorist groups in the Pankisi Gorge," he said. "So I would say that formally, it doesn't fall under the category of preventive strikes. But from a political point of view, it's generally a step in that direction. From a military point of view, it's most certainly a step in that direction." But Zlobin also said that Russia lacks the international clout to launch a preemptive strike on its own. "The Eurasian region, as a sphere of Russia's national interests, can only be recognized as such as a result of political discussions, compromise, and -- to speak frankly -- negotiations with the United States," he said. Zlobin said Moscow's unclear stance on preemptive strikes is yet another indication that much of the international community has yet to adopt a new security posture following the end of the Cold War. Return to Menu 3. IVANOV ASSURES NATO ON NUKES COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado -- Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov assured NATO that Moscow is not adopting a more aggressive nuclear stance and remains committed to cooperation with the Western alliance. "Russia still regards nuclear weapons as a deterrent," Ivanov told a news conference late last week after meeting with his NATO counterparts. "In no scenario is there mention of going first with the use of such weapons." Ivanov downplayed reports quoting a Defense Ministry document saying Moscow may rethink its nuclear strategy in response to NATO's "offensive military doctrine." Ivanov was also quoted in Moscow as saying Russia did not rule out a pre-emptive attack anywhere if national interests demand it. Joining the final sessions of a two-day NATO meeting in this Rocky Mountain city, he stressed Thursday that such an attack would not involve nuclear weapons and said the document from his ministry had been "misreported." NATO officials welcomed Ivanov's reassurances and said the alliance was pushing ahead with closer military ties with Moscow. The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, said the meeting showed "Russia has no negative intentions whatsoever toward NATO, quite the opposite." NATO diplomats suggested the document may have been designed to appeal to conservative military officers in Russia, and did not represent a shift in Russian policy. In his news conference, however, Ivanov highlighted a number of differences with Western nations, including criticism of Russia's aid to Iran's nuclear power program; a refusal by some countries to hand over Chechens whom Moscow regards as terrorists; and what he said were NATO plans to station warplanes "three minutes from St. Petersburg." That was an apparent reference to NATO's plans to bring in seven old Eastern Bloc nations as new members in May, including Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Ivanov also spoke of Russian plans to boost its forces in Central Asia, and said U.S. forces operating out of bases in former Soviet republics in the region should be removed when America's mission in Afghanistan is over. After a meeting between Ivanov and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, American officials emphasized improved relations, saying the two countries were boosting military ties with more joint exercises and cooperation was under way to develop missile defenses and radar systems. Rumsfeld and Ivanov discussed a work agenda that emerged from U.S. President George W. Bush's meeting last month at Camp David with President Vladimir Putin, according to a senior U.S. official present at Rumsfeld's meeting. Rumsfeld presented a proposed agreement that would lay the legal foundation for the countries to pursue joint projects in a variety of military fields, including missile defense, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. In a sign of closer relations, Ivanov visited the top secret headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command inside Cheyenne Mountain, overlooking Colorado Springs. Russia's relations with NATO have warmed since the signing last year of a partnership agreement that increased military and political contacts and established a NATO-Russia Council that sets up regular meetings between Russian ministers and their NATO counterparts. Ivanov said the two sides were faced with similar threats from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and should help each other modernize their armed forces. "Smart people think alike," he joked. Return to Menu 4. TYHOON CLASS NUKE SUB REPAIRS COMPLETED Severodvinsk shipyard recently completed repairs at nuclear ballistic missile submarine Dmitry Donskoy, ITAR-TASS reported. The Typhoon type submarine of project 941named Dmitry Donskoy has been under repairs since 1990. Dmitry Donskoy was designed by the Design Bureau Rubin (St Petersburg). Sevmash built six submarines of this type from 1977 to 1989. At the moment the specialists are testing the submarine’s systems before it returns to its base. Return to Menu 5. RUSSIA RETAINS RIGHT TO PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE COLORADO SPRINGS, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will never be the first to use nuclear weapons, but it retains the right to a pre-emptive nuclear strike in case of a threat to its interests and its allies' interests. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov said this at a news conference in Colorado Springs following an informal meeting with the NATO defense ministers there. "Nuclear weapons remain to be a deterrent, and we do not mean to use them first," emphasized Mr Ivanov. He set out this part of Russia's new open military doctrine, which was approved by the Russian president at the defense ministry meeting on October 2. "I set out, point by point, when, where and why Russia can venture to use nuclear weapons. No objections followed," said Mr Ivanov. On the contrary, the NATO defense ministers unanimously hailed the openness of the new Russian doctrine and Russia's clear and honest position on the problem. The nuclear problem also dominated a bilateral meeting between the Russian defense minister and his American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld. "We spoke openly and admitted that our countries would always be deploying nuclear weapons and would keep developing them. However, we consider our nuclear potentials to be means of political deterrence," said the minister. "This is Russia's viewing of the possible use of nuclear weapons, which I account for. I cannot answer for others," he added. Return to Menu 6. RUSSIA SHARES 1ST-STRIKE DOCTRINE NATO TO REVIEW APING OF U.S. POLICY COLORADO SPRINGS - The NATO bloc that helped thwart the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War turned back to familiar territory Thursday - focusing on a new Russian military doctrine that calls for first-strike war if necessary to defend Russian interests. But instead of the old icy silence between enemies, 19 NATO defense chiefs heard directly from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who attended their informal meeting here as an observer. Ivanov handed out translated copies of Russia's doctrine and assured the ministers that his nation wants better relations with NATO. Only the United States recently has made first-strike military action, or 'pre-emption,' against emerging threats abroad an explicit part of its foreign policy. The prospect of multiple powers contemplating first-strike war is widely seen as dangerous given the firepower available. The U.S. policy even allows first-strike use of nuclear weapons. After meeting with NATO leaders for an hour, Ivanov tried to clarify Russia's posture in a news conference. Contrary to recent reports in Russia, his nation's new nuclear posture, which includes efforts to modernize nuclear weaponry, aims only at 'political deterrence,' Ivanov said. Yet non-nuclear action to protect the interests of Russia and its allies is possible 'if other means are exhausted,' he said. 'We do not rule out something like that.' Ivanov also publicly reminded U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the U.S. bases Russia allowed in Central Asia for the war on Afghanistan are meant to be temporary. U.S. officials declined to comment on the doctrine or Russia's reminder about the bases. 'We are all now reading the document,' said Ambassador Nicholas Burns, the top U.S. representative to NATO. 'We are comfortable with what we've seen of it,' said Melissa Maynard, spokeswoman for Britain's Ministry of Defense. 'But we will go away and read it.' NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson downplayed the implications of the new doctrine. The notion of first-strike military action 'is nothing new,' Robertson said. NATO itself waged a first-strike war in 1999, bombing Kosovo to stop ethnic cleansing, 'and nobody thought of that as earth-shattering.' NATO in the future would wage first-strike war only if every member country agreed, he said. 'I don't think there's a problem here if individual nations have that policy.' During the meeting, NATO defense chiefs initially focused on modernizing NATO forces so that they could respond rapidly to terrorism and other threats beyond Europe. They committed themselves to radical change, conceding that NATO forces are outdated. But on Thursday, relations with Russia threw NATO leaders back to the Cold War era, when their purpose was to contain the Soviet Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the new doctrine last week amid efforts to downsize Russia's massive army. Part of the plan is to redeploy mothballed heavy strategic nuclear missiles. Ivanov was quoted in Russian newspapers as saying nuclear weapons remains crucial and that Russia would not exclude the possibility of pre-emptive strikes if necessary to defend Russia's or its allies' interests. Russia is basically 'imitating what the United States is doing,' said Alexei Bogaturov, head fellow at the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations in the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ivanov 'just wants to say that if Americans want to threaten countries such as North Korea or Iran, which are close to Russia, that could somehow threaten Russian national security. And the Russians are saying: 'If you change your doctrine, we will change our doctrine,'' Bogaturov said. That Ivanov attended the NATO talks is an indication that Russia is on good terms with NATO, Bogaturov said. 'Let's talk about this, rather than go back to unilateralism. Russia feels NATO, too, is uncomfortable with what the Bush administration is doing.' Rumsfeld met privately with Ivanov on Thursday morning. Senior defense officials said he and Ivanov agreed to continue sharing information and that Russians would be informed about U.S. plans for missile defense. They'll be invited to observe missile-defense simulation exercises scheduled for 2005 at Schriever Air Force Base, east of Colorado Springs. Some military analysts say first-strike policy is the only one that makes sense to confront new global threats. 'No rational country would ever have any other policy,' said Michael Ledeen, a foreign policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute and a national security adviser under President Reagan. 'The alternative to a policy of us hitting them before they hit us is them hitting us before we hit them - whoever it may be.' But the world 'is a much more insecure place' now that Russia, the other major nuclear power, has decided to follow America's lead and 'reserve the same rights as the United States,' said Fiona Hill, a leading Russia scholar and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "Yes, the cat is out of the bag," Hill said. "You can't expect to reserve that right exclusively for yourself. The Russians are following suit, and presumably other countries will follow suit. You are setting a very negative example. It's an escalation - of pre-emption - like the arms race we saw in the Cold War." Return to Menu 7. RUSSIA SOOTHES NATO CONCERNS OVER NUCLEAR POSTURE COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Oct 9 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday soothed concerns at NATO over its nuclear posture, ruling out a policy of pre-emptive strikes and describing its former Cold War foe as a partner against new security threats. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov assured his NATO counterparts at a meeting in Colorado Springs that a new document spelling out Moscow's military doctrine did not identify the U.S.-led alliance as offensive. But he did say Russia was concerned about NATO deployments near its borders, including one which put alliance warplanes within three minutes' flying time of St. Petersburg, and about early warning aircraft flights along its frontier. Asked if Moscow's doctrine differed from that of the United States, which reserves the right to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively, Ivanov said: "In fact, you are right." "Russia still regards nuclear weapons as a means of political deterrent," he said. However, he did spell out that Russia reserved the right to use pre-emptive non-nuclear force, particularly to protect ethnic Russians in states of the former Soviet Union. Improving relations with Moscow is a key element of NATO's drive to reinvent itself to tackle terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, threats highlighted on Tuesday by a war-gaming exercise laid on for alliance defense ministers. On the second day of their meeting on the edge of the Rocky Mountains the ministers also discussed plans to expand NATO's 5,500-strong peacekeeping force in Afghanistan beyond Kabul and into provinces roiled by feuding warlords. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said the alliance would not take a decision to extend the operation until it was offered troops from allies, many of whose forces are now stretched thin by crisis management missions across the globe. Robertson also told a news conference that NATO was looking at handing command of its stabilization operation in Bosnia to the European Union within 12-18 months. RUSSIA A NATO 'PARTNER' However, Ivanov was the focus of Thursday's meetings. "Minister Sergei Ivanov said ... Russia does not have or does not seek to have a pre-emptive strategy in relation to its nuclear weapons," Robertson said. "They don't regard NATO as being an offensive organization, they regard NATO as being a partner to Russia." NATO ministers had wanted to quiz Ivanov on a recent defense document which reportedly said that if NATO remained a "military alliance with its existing offensive military doctrine," Russia would have to review its military posture and nuclear strategy. "All he said was he had seen some Russian press reports and European press reports last week about this Russian strategy document and he wanted to assure us that he felt they were erroneous -- that there were no negative Russian intentions toward NATO," U.S. envoy to NATO Nicholas Burns told reporters. Russian President Vladimir Putin, pursuing a pro-Western policy, has softened criticism of NATO's plan to expand behind the old Iron Curtain. He agreed last year to set up a new NATO-Russia Council for closer cooperation on security issues. However, there are still misgivings in Moscow -- particularly in the defense establishment -- about NATO's embrace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which broke free from the Soviet Union in 1991. The Baltic states are among seven eastern European countries due to join NATO next year. Ivanov had a 30-minute meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, discussing possible cooperation on missile defense and early warning radars. Return to Menu L. Russian Nuclear Industry 1. MINATOM SEEKING SPONSORS FOR FLOATING NUCLEAR PLANT CONSTRUCTION The Russian Nuclear Ministry, or Minatom, hosted meeting dedicated to the investment program of the nuclear energy development in Russia. One of the key issues discussed was Minatom’s intention to get loans for floating nuclear plants construction in the commercial banks on security of the state. Vice Prime ministers Boris Aleshin and Vladimir Yakovlev, who took part in the meeting, supported Minatom’s idea, RusEnergy reported. Total project cost is $180m. At present $30m is spent, $50m more can be allocated from the state budget, remaining $100m has to be obtained from the market. Return of investments is 8 years, while the construction requires 5 years. So far, China, Indonesia and some Mediterranean countries showed interest in the project. Pay-off period is 5 years in these countries. According to the Russian law the floating nuclear power plant may not be sold to other countries, but it can sell electricity. After the end of the plant’s lifetime it should be transported back to Russia. According to deputy nuclear minister Valery Govorukhin, China offered to finance construction of the floating NPP, even if it would remain Russian property. On October 8th, 2003, Govorukhin said that Minatom would start construction of the first floating NPP in Severodvinsk in 2004. Return to Menu 2. BULGARIA SENDING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO SIBERIA A train full of spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria should soon arrive at the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine in Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia, Regnum.ru reported. The Combine did not plan to receive any spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria this year, but due to unpaid debt by Ukraine the Combine could suffer financial problems, so Zheleznogorsk will receive a part of the Bulgarian fuel originally destined for Mayak plant in the Urals. Bulgaria might send nuclear fuel one more time this year. This off-schedule delivery should save Krasnoyarsk region budget with $3.5m. Ukraine should also pay its debt to the Combine by the end of the year adding $2.3m to the local budget. Return to Menu 3. RF REPRESENTATVE ELECTED WORLD ASSOCIATN OF NUCLEAR OPERATRS CHIEF MOSCOW, October 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Director general of the concern Rosenergoatom Oleg Sarayev is elected president of the World Association of Nuclear Operators, the concern press centre told Itar-Tass on Tuesday after the voting that was held during the general assembly of this authoritative non-governmental international organisation of nuclear power plants in Berlin. Thus the Russian representative will coordinate the activity of four regional centres of the World Association of Nuclear Operators --- in Moscow, Atlanta, Paris and Tokyo in order to raise security and reliability of nuclear power plants all over the world till 2005," the concern spokesman emphasised. The World Association of Nuclear Operators is organised on dues of its members and its regional centres should "conduct independent partner check-ups on all aspects of the activity of operating nuclear power plants and work out recommendations on upgrading the work of these nuclear power plants," he noted. "As one of the most well-known, worldwide recognised chiefs of nuclear associations within the World Association of Nuclear Operators the Rosenergoatom head is elected president of this organisation from its Moscow centre," the spokesman remarked. The Moscow centre comprises 36 representatives from 13 countries: Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Iran, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Finland and Czech Republic. Representatives of these countries are included in the Moscow centre because reactors of Soviet (Russian) nuclear projects operate or are being built there, the concern spokesman said. At present 69 reactors at 23 nuclear power plants with the set capacity of 49530.5 Megawatt function in nine foresaid countries. Six reactors: Kalinin-3, Kursk-5, Rovno-4, Khmelnitsk-2, Volgodonsk-2 and Bushehr-1 are being built, the Rosenergoatom spokesman noted. Return to Menu 4. MURMANSK SHIPING COMPANY TO PART WITH NUCLEAR ICE-BREAKERS The Russian Transport Ministry is planning to hand over all the nuclear icebreakers to the new Federal Company Sevmorput. The first deputy of the Transport Ministry Vyacheslav Ruksha said that a new federal company would be established to manage effectively the nuclear icebreakers, ITAR-TASS reported. At the moment, Murmansk Shipping Company manages the nuclear icebreakers. The Sevmorput will also take over Atomflot Company, service base for nuclear icebreakers. According to the Transport Ministry, this restructuring would allow to make shipping in the Arctic Ocean more effective. The icebreakers, including the nuclear ones, help to transport 1.7m tons of cargo annually. This number should reach from 12 to 15m tons. Half of this cargo would be hydrocarbon raw materials from Timano-Pechora and other Siberian deposits, Ruksha added. Return to Menu 5. RUSSIA TO DELIVER NUCLEAR FUEL TO SLOVENIA Russia and Slovenia will work out an agreement on Russian nuclear fuel delivery. This decision was announced after meetings between the Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop and Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Mikhail Kasyanov said this issue was in the centre of the negotiations. He added that it is possible after inventory of the earlier agreements signed between two countries. ”It is very important that cooperation in the field of energy will go directly and economically profitable for both Russia and Slovenia”, ITAR-TASS reported. Today Russia’s debt to Slovenia is equal to $205m. Return to Menu DISCLAIMER: Nuclear News is presented for informational purposes only. Views presented in any given article are those of the individual author or source and not of RANSAC. RANSAC takes no responsibility for the technical accuracy of information contained in any article presented in Nuclear News. RANSAC's Nuclear News is compiled two to three times weekly. To be automatically removed from our mailing list, click on the following link: Remove Me From The List If you have questions/comments/concerns, please reply to news@ransac.org |
|
|
|
© 2007 Partnership for Global Security. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement.