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RANSAC Nuclear News, May 22, 2003 Compiled By: Lauren Arestie A. Cooperative Threat Reduction
 A. Cooperative Threat Reduction 1. US Frets At Security Of Russian Radioactive Matter The United States is speeding up efforts to help Russia safeguard radioactive material that could be used to make a "dirty bomb", following 30-40 cases of theft of such matter, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Security at military bases storing Russia's nuclear weapons was generally tight, the department of energy official said. But Washington was concerned terrorists might obtain radioactive material from sprawling, poorly guarded civilian sites. Countries including Iran and North Korea were also likely to be in the market for the material, he said. "There is some highly radioactive material that is not very well secured," said the official. "I think the Russians have a very good handle on where all their weapons are," he said. "The more you get down to materials, that is inherently harder." Russian officials had no immediate comment. They have said in the past they need millions of dollars to improve security around thousands of sites containing radioactive material, which are often guarded by unarmed pensioners. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in March stricter security measures were urgently needed to stop terrorists obtaining radioactive material, which they could attach to conventional explosives to make "dirty bombs". The United States is already helping its former Cold War rival improve security at nuclear sites, dispose of radioactive material, and prevent nuclear scientists from selling services overseas. The official, in Moscow for regular discussions of those projects, said they were going well despite continuing problems with access to some sensitive sites. But the biggest problem now was at civilian sites, such as nuclear power and food sterilization plants, where radioactive material was often stored in several different buildings, making it hard to guard, the official said. "Even in the best of circumstances, we're not going to have everything done we want for a few years so there's still a window of vulnerability to terrorists and I want to close that as fast as possible," the official said. "Since the administration has been in office we've sped up completion of this by about two years and if I can find a way to speed it up a little more, I'll speed it up a little more." He said there had been 30 to 40 cases of theft of small amounts of radioactive material in Russia in the last five years or so. There was no evidence that there were large amounts missing but the thefts proved there was a market, he said. "What we know is that there are persistent documented cases of attempts to sell terrorist organizations nuclear materials," he said. Return to Menu 2. DEF Guide to Waste Management WASHINGTON - The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) works to secure or destroy Russian weapons. It's part of the grand vision of former Senator Sam Nunn and Senator Richard Lugar to make America safer not by paying for more arms, but by paying for fewer. Of more than three dozen DTRA projects in Russia, perhaps the least well-known is the Defense Enterprise Fund. Which is a shame, because the DEF is a great cautionary tale. It's been almost a decade since Congress created the DEF, gave it $67 million, and instructed it to seek out business investments that would "convert" Soviet-era military infrastructure into peaceful profit-makers. A tough job, and one made tougher by waste and mismanagement. A Pentagon audit last year found the DEF's team spent at least $35.6 million on managing its $66.7 million -- in other words, it spent 53 cents to manage each dollar. The Pentagon auditors also frowned at more than $1 million the fund's American directors spent on fine dining, tennis games, golf club memberships, vacations to warmer climes and tickets to theaters and the symphony. The DEF's investments were a series of blunders. As its top manager put it in a 1999 e-mail, "a small number of people did a [bad] job of investing a fund and ... it did not have to be that way." There was a $9.65 million venture with the Russian Railways Ministry to lay fiber-optic cable across the nation -- a telecommunications play in which the DEF lost its shirt and then sucked the U.S. departments of State, Commerce and Defense, and then-Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, into a nasty feud. There was also a starry-eyed scheme to recycle precious metals from Russian electronic scrap, in which the French partner went bankrupt immediately upon receiving the DEF's $5 million ante. There was a St. Petersburg computer manufacturer the DEF paid $3 million for a stake in -- millions that then evaporated, so the DEF gave the company another $3 million, as a loan. Pentagon auditors later wrote that the entire computer company might be worth $1 million, and they asked what had happened to the other $5 million. Anyway, lessons learned. The DEF has been conceded to be a flop. Or has it? The Pentagon last year finally posted some information about the DEF on its DTRA web site. The information was dated May 17, 2002 -- long after the publication of two Pentagon audits and one Moscow Times expose. But DTRA wrote that its fund was employing nearly 4,000 former defense workers via 13 projects, and providing "telecommunications services," "personal computers," "precious metal recycling," etc. I wrote DTRA to ask for details. So did Matthew Maly, a former DEF employee turned ardent critic. DTRA immediately edited downward its boasts, claiming 1,250 defense workers, not 3,750. Maly snorts at even that. "I know for a fact that DEF/DTRA would not be able to provide a checkable list of such workers with more than 200 names on it," he wrote to the Pentagon. Over the past nine months I've enjoyed a polite e-mail correspondence with one Clem Gaines of the DTRA press office, who regularly promised he'd get me those details the next week; and then, as the Iraq war got under way, wrote that I should stop asking for facts to support their numbers. Return to Menu B. Multilateral Threat Reduction 1. Russia To Push For Aid For Dismantling Arms MOSCOW - Russia has a good chance of winning more Western funds to help dismantle its aging nuclear and chemical arsenals at next month's summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations, Russian military analysts said Thursday. Participants in next month's G-8 summit in Evian, France are expected to approve an action plan that would spell out the group's pledge to commit US$20 billion over a 10-year period, said Vladimir Orlov, the head of the PIR-Center, an independent think-tank specializing in disarmament. "It's a politically neutral initiative, supported by every member, that would help move past differences over Iraq," Orlov told a news conference. "It's an issue where they can cooperate." The G-8 first promised the aid package to Russia at its summit in Kananaskis, Canada last June, but specific details of the pledge are still being negotiated. Orlov said that programs to help Russia rid itself of its Cold War-era arsenals had been bogged down by a web of legal disagreements. Russia has been slow to bow to Western demands to accept full legal responsibility for all nuclear risks, offer tax breaks and give inspectors from donor nations unlimited access to all dismantling sites. "All these issues require a political will to overcome narrow group interests," said Elina Kirichenko, an expert from the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations, a leading policy research center linked to the government. A multilateral agreement signed Wednesday in Stockholm, which envisages Western assistance in dismantling 109 mothballed nuclear submarines in northern Russia, offers an important precedent for solving the long-disputed issues, Orlov said. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov paved the way for the agreement by pledging to free Western aid from taxation in Russia, Orlov said. The Stockholm accord also offered a solution to the issue of liabilities in case of an accident, he added. The accord, which followed several years of complex talks, opens the way for releasing 110 million euros ($128.8 million) pledged for the task by the European Union and individual countries. Dismantling of Soviet-era nuclear submarines that have been rusting dockside for years with nuclear fuel aboard, posing grave environmental risks, has long been a top challenge for the Russian government. Moscow estimates the total cost of the effort at around US$3 billion, Orlov said. Another goal for Russia is getting rid of its 40,000 metric tons (44,000 tons) of chemical weapons - the world's largest stockpiles. Russia committed itself in 1997 to destroying its chemical arsenals by 2007, but later asked for a five-year extension and requested Western financial help, citing a shortage of funds. Russia estimates the costs at some US$4 billion. Orlov warned that a significant part of the G-8's US$20 billion pledge could be spent to finance Western equipment and expertise, adding that Russia should try to win more cash to award dismantling contracts to its own workers. Return to Menu 2. Agreement On Nuclear-Ecological Program Moves Russia To A New Stage Of Utilizing Atomic Power Submarines STOCKHOLM - An Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear-Ecological Program in the Russian Federation (MNEPR) and a protocol on the issues of complaints move Russia to a new stage of utilization of written-off atomic power submarines and ships for atomic technological servicing in the northwest of Russia. Igor Ivanov said this on Wednesday when he spoke at the MNEPR agreement signing ceremony. Representatives of Russia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Britain, the USA, the European Community and EURATOM signed the framework agreements on the multilateral nuclear-ecological program for Russia and a protocol on the issues of complaints, court investigations and exemption from financial liability stipulated by the agreement. In compliance with this agreement Russia will receive $66 million to, above all, utilize atomic power submarines in northwestern Russia. Return to Menu 3. International Environmental Agreement Signed For Russian Nuclear Program An international agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program for the Russian Federation (MNEPR) was signed in Stockholm on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov signed for Russia. The document was also signed by the French and Swedish foreign ministers and the Norwegian deputy foreign minister. The other signatories, including the U.S., were represented at the ceremony by ambassadors. MNEPR envisions the disposal of radioactive waste, including spent fuel from decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines, and the scrapping of the submarines themselves in Russia's northwest. In addition to Russia, MNEPR will involve Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Britain, the U.S., the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. By European Commission estimations, donors will allot up to 1.8 billion euros to implement environmental programs in Russia under MNEPR, primarily for cleaning the basins of the Baltic and Barents Seas. About 1.3 billion euros will finance non-nuclear projects, and some 500 million euros will go for the disposal of radioactive waste. Return to Menu 4. Ivanov Signs Nuclear-Environmental Program For Russia STOCKHOLM - In Stockholm on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and the foreign ministers of Sweden and France, Anna Lyndh and Dominique de Villepin, signed an accord on a multilateral program of nuclear-environmental safety in Russia. Officials from the relevant departments of Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, the US, and the European Union attended the ceremony. Experts said, "This important document helps improve the radiation safety in Europe and the ecological situations in Russia's northern regions". The accord envisions a range of measures to assist Russia's scrapping of 109 decommissioned nuclear submarines and the construction of storage facilities for radioactive waste and spent fuel on the Kola Peninsula. Analysts put the cost of the program at hundreds of millions of dollars. Sweden, one of initiators of setting up a special fund for the program, has contributed ten million dollars. After the document comes into force, Russia will receive an initial 68 million dollars for the reprocessing of fuel from the decommissioned submarines. Return to Menu 5. MNEPR Accord Signed in Stockholm Wednesday After a long fight between European and Russian officials over the taxes and liabilities surrounding nuclear clean-up in Russia's Northwest, an agreement seems finally to have been reached. A landmark agreement negotiated by donor countries - called the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program for Russia, or MNEPR - is signed May 21st in Stockholm and will release as a first step 62 million euros in ecological funding to clean up Russia's Northwest of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste generated as a result of the Russian nuclear submarine fleet operation in the area. The Bellona Foundation views Wednesday's singing ceremony in the Swedish capitol as a major step forward for Russia and its European partners to tackle environmental problems. Bellona has been instrumental in advocating for MNEPR and drawing political attention from the European Parliament and the Russian Duma to navigate some of the treaty's sticking points through the Inter-parliamentary Working Group established back in 1998. The agreement will pave the way for projects in management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from Northern Fleet nuclear submarines, as well as heightening safety measures at Leningrad and Kola nuclear power plants. The signing of the MNEPR agreement lays the groundwork and clears obstacles for financial assistance by an environmental protection support fund in the European Union's Northern Dimension Environmental Program, or NDEP. If NDEP can supply funding to tackle the radioactive threats facing Northwest Russia - for instance, the 248 reactor cores that are stored at Northern Fleet bases and which are equivalent to 99 tons of uranium in SNF - it will become as determining an influence on the Northwest's environmental issues as CTR has been for non-proliferation in the former Soviet Union as a whole. The accord is signed by representatives of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, and European Commission officials. It is also signed - in an unexpected last minute development - by the United States, which has apparently decided to lay aside a number of issues it has voiced. The agreement will defray tax issues that Russian officials had levied on some European nations in the framework of government to government bilateral agreements that were inked prior to MNEPR. Unlike much US work, however, the text of the MNEPR agreement makes no mention of non-proliferation work. However, according to Norway's Ambassador Torbj�rn Norendal, the chief negotiator for the donor countries, no significant problems should arise for those nations taking part in MNEPR who have non-proliferation goals. He said, however, that negotiators did not want to amend the agreement at this late stage to include non-proliferation programming language in order that the agreement's first version get into the diplomatic pipeline as soon as possible. The Russian Foreign Ministry this week told the Russian RIA news agency the MNEPR agreement carried "great significance in Russia." Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will be attending the singing for Russia. "This document can in the future be used as a benchmark for drawing up bilateral agreements in the context of the Global Partnership (on threat reduction)," said a ministry spokesman. The Russians had earlier claimed that current Russian legislation would have made signing the MNEPR agreement impossible. But in negotiation turn-abouts, it has been decided that MNEPR will have temporary validity until it is ratified by the Russian Duma, which could be weeks or months off. But the tax issue, and fears that donated money and equipment would be taxed by Russian authorities, had proved to be one of the agreements major sticking points since negotiations began in 1999. Western donors demanded that value-added tax for both foreign suppliers and their subcontractors -- even if those subcontractors should be Russian companies - should be removed. With today's signing, it looks like the West got its wish. Less clear are issues of liability should an accident take place while some nuclear clean up work is being performed. At present, the MNEPR agreement includes a so-called Nuclear Liability Protocol, which was separated from the initial agreement at the insistence of the United States, according to Norwegian Ambassador Norendal. Ironically, the Umbrella Agreement that the US has with Russia through the Cooperative Threat Reduction program - which is valid until 2006 - includes stricter liability codes. It is therefore expected that some of the nations will sign the protocol, but others will not. According to Ambassador Norendal, the United States will sign the MNEPR agreement, but it is as yet unclear whether it will sign the additional Nuclear Liability Protocol. According to Norendal, something must have positively influenced the United States - which, according to Secretary of State Colin Powel had, until Saturday, no intention of singing the agreement. Return to Menu 6. Russia, Sweden, France Sign Nuke Waste Deal STOCKHOLM - Sweden, Russia and France put their signatures on a multilateral accord Wednesday to help Russia dispose of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel. The Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program for the Russian Federation was signed by the three country's foreign ministers. The aim of the agreement is to help Russia decommission and dispose of nuclear material, much of it in the Kola Peninsula above the Arctic circle. "Nuclear waste is one of the very greatest threats we have today, and if we are not doing anything to solve it, it is not a question of if, but of when we will have a great catastrophe," said Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. Lindh, along with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and France's Dominque de Villepin, signed the treaty Wednesday morning. Ivanov called it a landmark event for future bilateral agreements and added it would have a "direct bearing on the security in these areas, but also in the broader areas of Europe." He added that Russia hopes to sign similar agreements with Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada. De Villepin said the treaty would let European countries "control the proliferation of nuclear weapons." The accord calls for several measures to help Russia get rid of 109 decommissioned nuclear submarines that have been docked in the Kola peninsula, as well as ways to remove the unused fuel in their reactors and decontaminate the radioactive waste. Russia's Northern Fleet has its bases on the peninsula, where northwestern Russia borders Norway. Russia has been working with several countries to implement the new treaty, including the United States, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. A declaration on the negotiations was signed in 1999 during a meeting of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council. To help pay for the cost of the clean-up, 110 million euros (US$128.8 million) was pledged last year by the European Union, and other countries. "Now, we hope for more contributions to the fund which will make it possible to deal with the nuclear waste," Lindh said. She said the agreement would let Russia improve its nuclear safety in several locations, including a site at Andreeva Bay, which is 45 kilometers (28 miles) from neighboring Norway. Prime ministers from the Nordic countries and Russia reached an agreement earlier this year to clean up the Kola peninsula, where rusting Russian submarines and nuclear waste threaten the Arctic environment. The Norwegian environmental group Bellona says about 21,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies are stored here and many of the containers are leaking. Return to Menu C. Russia-U.S. 1. Bush Seeks Positive Development Of US-Russia Relations WASHINGTON - In the White House on Wednesday night, US President George W. Bush, during his meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who had arrived here earlier in the day for a working visit, said he is prepared to promote in every way an onward development of Russia-US relations jointly with his friend President Vladimir Putin. An official in the press service of the US National Security Council (NSC) has told Itar-Tass that President Bush expressed an ardent striving for the relations between the two countries to continue to develop in a positive key. The NSC official said the US President joined in the conversation between his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Sergei Ivanov for about 20 minutes. Apart from bilateral relations, the sides discussed the theme of struggle against international terrorism, and US-Russia cooperation in this respect. On the whole, Ivanov's US interlocutors assessed the conversation as very positive and warm. Judging by these comments, Washington shares Moscow's desire to put an end to the standoff that was brought about by the difference in Russia's and US approaches to the military operation in Iraq. A Russian delegation source told Itar-Tass correspondent Alexander Konovalov earlier that this was precisely one of the main goals of the Russian Defense Minister's visit. Return to Menu 2. A Neo-Con In The Romantic Pragmatist's Court MOSCOW - After months of tough words, traded accusations and barbs, US President George Bush is expected to meet his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in St Petersburg as part of the city's 300th birthday anniversary on June 1. Three hundred years ago, Peter the Great founded the city as part of his plan to modernize Russia and turn it to the West. Three years ago, a man from that same city found himself catapulted into the Kremlin with a mandate to salvage Russia from the upheavals of post-communism disintegration. After September 11, 2001, this man boldly announced that Russia would once again look to become part of the West. Now, in three weeks' time, Bush will attempt to explain to Putin what it means to be modern and part of the West - at least in his eyes. The good news about the upcoming mini-summit is the fact that it will be held at all, considering recent US-Russia squabbles. The long and meandering road US-Russian relations have taken since September 11 is in need of some very sober re-assessment. Putin and Bush rushed into a new relationship like two lovers who had decided to elope without considering the consequences of their actions. On Bush's part, the relationship was a small component of carrying out his messianic vision of good conquering evil throughout the world. For Putin, hitching up with a very powerful partner bent on destroying international terrorist groups was a convenient cover for a failed policy in Chechnya and assisted Russia's return to global respectability. Then the real world showed up and spoiled the love-in. Russia and the US have a number of shared interests, but they also have some extremely prickly differences, most of which are over conflicting geopolitical interests generated in part by ideological differences. In the wake of the US-led war against Iraq, the mini-summit will finally demonstrate to the star-struck couple that their elopement was a marriage between an American "neo-con" and a Russian "romantic pragmatist" in search of different destinies. An odd combination, but there is no reason such a relationship could not be made to succeed. Uncomfortable marriages, as many of us can attest, can last a very long time. The get-together will inevitably be declared an official success, taking into account the vagueness that unites the visions of the new world order held by both heads of state. This ideological odd couple will agree to disagree on a number of policy issues, but will laud the importance of the bilateral relationship for building a mutually beneficial future. Due to shared interests, neither side has much room in which to do otherwise. Both Moscow and Washington are intensely interested in national security, and with good reason. Bush's vision of a righteous new world order is in fact creating multiple new enemies for the US. For its part, Putin's Russia has few real friends in the world, not to mention a number of enemies within the country itself. Fear of enemies - real, imagined or in the making - pulls both countries together. Fear transcends any political ideology. The very real danger of loose nukes and other weapons of mass destruction also gives the awkward couple a reason to make a re-assessed relationship work as well. (Though both are loath to admit it - the US more than Russia - the new world of uncertainty is partly the result of the almost half a century of mutual confrontation between the countries that created most of these weapons in the first place.) No two countries know more about the need to secure them, and even have them destroyed. Bilateral energy relations and trade are also compelling reasons for the US and Russia to recast their recently troubled relationship, all the more so because strengthened business contacts can help soften the impact of state-to-state political disagreements, like over the issue of Iraq over the past few months. These areas of cooperation - and there are more - are a testament to the fact that a neo-conservative and a romantic pragmatist can work together. Ideology is of limited importance when specific and mutually beneficial issues are considered. It is on issues like these that the "new-new bilateral relationship" should be based. After September 11, US-Russia relations lunged into a realm of unreasonable expectations that could not be realized due to differing interests in the world, and even ideological approaches. It is better to bring the relationship to a more pragmatic level. In the end, Putin's romantic pragmatism will prevail over Bush's neo-conservatism. Putin will bend and accept Bush's agenda in areas that do not significantly impact negatively on Russia's interests. The proper definition of "international terrorism" will probably never be agreed on, though it will always carry emotional and rhetorical weight. Though Bush, for better or worse, has a vision for the world - even for the destiny of mankind - his geopolitical agenda is open-ended and open to conflicting interests. Putin has a much more specific and circumspect agenda. His primary concern is Russia's interests. His romantic pragmatism puts Russia first, while retaining the flexibility to move in a swiftly changing world more and more controlled by the United States. This is where neo-conservatism and romantic pragmatism meet and can find a common ground - at least when it comes to finding Russia's place in the world. Bush's America may have no need for France, but it cannot realistically ignore Russia for long, and Russia certainly does not want to be ignored by America either. Both countries have reasons to maintain a strained relationship instead of continuing threats of an impending and confrontational divorce that would be in the longer-term interests of neither party. It is quite appropriate that Bush and Putin are meeting in St Petersburg. It is a city of emotion and is known for its extreme ideological rigidity. It is also a city of sophistication, and has a forward-looking heritage. The Bush-Putin encounter will demonstrate a little of both qualities. Bush and Putin are on a mission, though each in his own way. There is no better place to meet to hash out what a mutually beneficial, though by no means easy, relationship will be all about. Return to Menu D. Strategic Arms Reduction 1. Federation Council To Consider SOR Treaty In Late May MOSCOW - The ratification of the Russo-American Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions is included in the agenda of the next plenary session of the Federation Council to be held on May 28, the chamber's press service told RIA Novosti. The Federation Council International Committee is expected to consider this issue preliminarily on May 23. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have been invited to the session, according to officials in the International Committee apparatus. According to a RIA Novosti correspondent, no one in the Federation Council doubts that the treaty will be ratified. Earlier, when the State Duma decided to postpone the ratification due to the war in Iraq, the senators categorically disagreed with their colleagues from the lower chamber, urging them to ratify the treaty as soon as possible. According to Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov, the SOR treaty "is in line with Russia's national interests and is aimed at ensuring its national security." The State Duma ratified the SOR Treaty on May 14. Return to Menu 2. Moscow Treaty Might Enter Into Force in Two Weeks Russia would like to see the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty take effect soon, possibly at a U.S.-Russian summit in St. Petersburg scheduled for the end of this month or at a Group of Eight summit two days later, according to Russian Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov. Russia's domestic treaty approval process remains incomplete, however, Mamedov said last week. Before Russia can exchange the instruments of ratification with the United States, Russia's Federation Council - the upper house of Parliament - must approve it, Mamedov said. While the Moscow Treaty itself lacks verification measures, the United States and Russia have agreed to use the verification system established under START. That treaty, however, expires in 2009, leaving a three-year gap until the Moscow Treaty itself expires. Russia is interested in developing new verification measures to go beyond the START system and has already begun discussions on the issue with U.S. officials, Mamedov said. Mamedov praised the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, for voting 294-134 in favor of the treaty's ratification last week. The debate within the Duma over the treaty's ratification had become a type of "referendum" on the larger issue of overall U.S.-Russian relations, according to Mamedov. "We consider that as a result of a very frank discussion ... the Russian parliamentarians have passed a convincing vote of confidence in the policy being pursued by President Vladimir Putin towards an equal partnership with the U.S.," Mamedov said. Mamedov also praised a recent visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for helping to improve U.S.-Russian cooperation. Powell met with Putin last week in St. Petersburg. The talks "were successful and have once again borne out that Russian-American relations, despite serious contradictions and difficulties, as in the assessment of the military actions in Iraq, are irrevocably developing along the road of cooperation on key issues," Mamedov said Return to Menu E. Russia-Iran 1. Russia Agrees with US That Iran Poses a Nuclear Threat (excerpted) Following a whirlwind visit Wednesday to Russia by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Moscow this week finally concurred with western assertions that Iran is operating a covert nuclear program, and is, in the words of President George Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, a "sponsor of terror." The tough talk from Washington following Powell's visit and the rejoinder of the sentiment by Moscow created international tensions. Such hawkish bravado from the US side preceded the invasion of Iraq by US troops. More surprisingly, Moscow - a harsh critic of US intervention in Iraq - has apparently joined, at least in word, this machismo to rooting out of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East - even if that campaign targets its long time atomic ally, Iran. [...] The Bushehr light water reactor - which itself is rumored to be protected by a small arsenal of surface to air missiles - is scheduled to come on-line later this year, or early next year, and Tehran and Moscow have agreed that Russia will buy back all spent fuel - which could be reprocessed for plutonium - from the facility to insure against any proliferation risks. Russia is also contractually to be the sole supplier of fuel for Bushehr - regardless of Iran's own uranium enrichment capabilities - with the first 80 tons of fuel arriving this year. Russia has also discussed - to more US chagrin - the possible construction of at least five more reactors in Iran - a second reactor in Bushehr, and others to follow as plans develop. But the advanced state of Iran's nuclear fuel cycle, as revealed by ElBaradei's inspections of Natanz and Arak, gives the Tehran an almost indigenous capability to enrich uranium for fuel or weapons, and possibly to produce plutonium - making the Russian spent fuel buy-back scheme virtually worthless. US officials have also long insisted that Russian reactor expertise - exported to Iran by more than 1000 Russia nuclear specialists - is being imparted to Iranian physicists for use in a weapons program. Russian officials have discounted that possibility, but Iranian officials have worried in private interviews that the newly acquired US swagger in the Middle East could lead to a fresh war with Iran. In an effort to cool tensions, Powell told Echo of Moscow radio late this week that Iran "is not a matter for the armed forces of the United States right now." [...] Deputy Foreign Minister Mamedov said in an interview that Russia's nuclear obligations with Iran begin and end with the Bushehr facility and dismissed US concerns that Moscow has officially helped the Islamic Republic with more sensitive technology - although he acknowledged that whatever was produced by the Natanz and Iraq facilities were anyone's guess. On the count of Bushehr, he said, "our conscience is crystal clear." But almost as surprising as his declaration that Iran is developing nuclear weapons was his accusation that unidentified Western firms are aiding Tehran in acquiring the materials it needs for a nuclear weapons program. "There is a legend that all problems stem from Russia's peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iran, used as a cover for transferring nuclear weapons technology, and we categorically deny that," Mamedov said. "We are trying to attract US attention to the fact that some concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons program are related to the illegal activities of several western companies. We have questions that we are putting to the Iranian side, and we hope they will be answered." Mamedov refused to provide any details, saying American and Russian experts were studying the issue. Return to Menu F. Russia-North Korea 1. Russia Opposes Sanctions On North Korea The top Russian envoy in Seoul said yesterday that Moscow opposes economic sanctions on North Korea as a way of settling the nuclear tension on the Korean Peninsula. "Russia is against economic sanctions on North Korea in solving the North's nuclear issue for the time being. Sanctions should be the last resort," Russian Ambassador Teymuraz O. Ramishvili said in an interview with The Korea Herald. Speculation has risen that the leaders of the United States and Japan may discuss applying sanctions on North Korea during their summit in Washington May 23. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that Tokyo may suspend remittances to North Korea if Japan and at least one other country agree on the step. "All other options except peaceful means should be excluded," Ramishvili said. The Russian diplomat stressed such measures that might provoke the North will bring about "unpredictable and dangerous" consequences on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang had threatened to regard international sanctions as "a declaration of war." North Korean media recently condemned international pressure on the North, including possible restrictions on remittances, as "a provocation to seriously get on the North's nerves." Ramishvili believes the United States and North Korea should open a new set of nuclear talks to resolve the nuclear standoff. "We will be happy to see follow-up talks resumed regardless of their format," the envoy said. He added, however, that Russia is ready to join and host future talks, saying the nation has received some hints from the United States that it may participate in the next round. The launch of nuclear talks began with North Korea, the United States and China in Beijing last month after a compromise between Pyongyang and Washington, which had previously insisted on bilateral and multilateral talks, respectively. "The major problem in Pyongyang-Washington negotiations is that the two parties have no confidence in each other. This is the basis of all their misunderstandings," he said. Asked about the results of the summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington last week, the Russian envoy said he welcomes the two leaders' agreement on the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue. While reserving judgment on the vaguely worded "further steps" that Seoul and Washington agreed to take concerning Pyongyang's possible provocations, he said he hopes the nuclear issue will be resolved before a new hard-line policy is implemented. Ramishvili also said that the two Koreas should continue their economic cooperation projects despite the nuclear tension, emphasizing that the "sunshine policy" of engaging the North that was promoted by former President Kim Dae-jung enhanced the security situation in the South. "I hope inter-Korean economic projects will continue despite the nuclear tension," he said. President Roh vowed during his summit with Bush that South Korea will link economic projects between the two Koreas to the nuclear crisis, shifting from the South's earlier stance that bilateral exchanges would be pursued independently. Touching on the envisaged summit between Roh and Russian President Vladimir Putin this year, the Russian diplomat said the two leaders may sign an agreement on bilateral cooperation in the area of space exploration along with other issues. "The two presidents will discuss a whole range of issues, and they will agree on a joint program to develop technology and exchange information about the space field," Ramishvili said. He said the summit meeting between Roh and Putin will provide an opportunity for them to develop close personal relations as both are young and reform-minded. Return to Menu G. Plutonium Disposition 1. Russian Ecologists Say Use of Plutonium as Nuclear Fuel Could Cause More Nuclear Disasters MOSCOW - The use of plutonium as a nuclear fuel could cause more nuclear disasters as well as pollution and an even greater risk of the spread of nuclear materials. This is the opinion of Russian ecological experts. As a spokesman for the Moscow-based international movement Ecozashita [ecoprotection] announced, there are plans to promote the use of plutonium in Russia and the US at the upcoming G-8 summit in France on June 1-3. Ecological organizations are opposed to this and are organizing protest actions in Russia and the US on May 26 and 27. "Plutonium reserves are left over from the Cold War but they can only be used to destroy life," said Co-Chairman of Ecozashita Vladimir Slivyak. He added that 'the use of plutonium for peaceful means is expensive and dangerous for the environment, the Russian population and even the nuclear industry.' In 2000 the governments of Russia and the US signed an agreement on the utilization of 68 tons of plutonium (each side is to use 34 tons). The plutonium is expected to be used for the production of mixed oxide fuel (an uranium plutonium oxide fuel) that will then be used at nuclear power stations. Return to Menu H. Missile Defense 1. Russia Ready For Dialogue With USA HONOLULU - Russia is ready for a dialogue with the USA on bilateral cooperation in missile defense if certain conditions are met, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters Wednesday. Ivanov made a short stopover in Honolulu on his way to Washington after his visit to Malaysia. "We are ready to discuss the issue with the USA, but on certain conditions," Ivanov said. Cooperation between the two countries should be not aimed against each other and intellectual property of each of the sides should be preserved, Ivanov added. The defense minister emphasized that Russia was not particularly concerned about work on missile defense systems carried out by other countries but the USA. "Other countries do not concern us in that issue," he said. Ivanov differentiated cooperation between Russia and NATO in the sphere of tactical missile defense and Russian-U.S. cooperation in strategic missile defense. "Our bilateral cooperation with the USA in missile defense and theatre missile defense are absolutely different things," he emphasized. The minister also noted a lack of visible progress from both sides in missile defense cooperation. "We can see no major progress in cooperation in that field either on the American or on the Russian side." He believes the process will "take no less than decades" as "one cannot expect visible result in one or two years in such issues". He stressed that long-term character of cooperation with the USA on missile defense was one of Russia's main criteria. While in Washington Ivanov is to hold talks with U.S. President George Bush, presidential national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, the Pentagon chief and other members of the U.S. administration. Return to Menu 2. Russia To Help US Build Missile Shield Under Certain Conditions MOSCOW - Russia is prepared to cooperate with the United States in the construction of a missile defense shield under certain conditions, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said early Wednesday on his way to Washington. "We are prepared to discuss this theme with the United States, but under a number of conditions," the Russian news agencies quoted Ivanov as saying during a stopover in Hawaii. These conditions include a guarantee that the fruits of the US-Russian cooperation "would not be directed against each other" and assurances of "the preservation of each side's intellectual property, the demilitarization of space and total transparency regarding missile defense" between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Defense Minister added. Ivanov left Malaysia Tuesday at the end of a three-day visit and was headed for the United States, where he is to meet with top US officials. Ivanov last January said that Russia was prepared to cooperate with the United States in the joint construction of a missile defense shield "step by step." Washington last year ditched the cornerstone 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in order to build a missile shield. US President George W. Bush in December announced plans to deploy a limited missile shield by 2004 that would include 10 ground-based interceptor missiles at Fort Greeley in Alaska. Such a system is far too small to test Russia's massive nuclear stockpile but Moscow fears Washington would expand the shield over the coming years and -- with Russia too poor to replenish its ageing missile arsenal -- could one day nullify its nuclear threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address Friday that Russia would soon introduce a new generation of "strategic arms," without providing further details. Return to Menu 3. Russian Defense Minister Ready To Speak On Anti-Missile Defense With USA And NATO HONOLULU - Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov is ready to speak on anti-missile defense with the USA and theater anti-missile defense with the NATO. This is what Sergei Ivanov told journalists in Honolulu where his plane landed for refueling while en route from Malaysia to the USA. As Sergei Ivanov said, "we are ready to speak on the topic of anti-missile defense, given the observance of a number of conditions, which I mentioned on many occasions: the anti-defense systems of each party must not be aimed against each other, the entire intellectual property of each party must be preserved, space will not be militarized, and Russia and the USA must ensure full transparency in this field." "All the other aspects of this issue do not concern us," he stressed. "It is not accidental that I speak about theater anti-missile defense, when the NATO is mentioned, and about anti-missile defense, when Russian-US accords are on the agenda," the minister said. "It is time to understand that these are different things." "Neither the Russian nor the US party has made any considerable progress in this field so far," he said. In his opinion, "it would not be serious to expect that the parties will be able to make any progress in this field in a year or two." "This will require decades and this is one of our priorities: we can discuss this issue only on a long-term basis," the defense minister said. Sergei Ivanov warned against attempts by one of the parties to "wring what it needs from the other and then go off in opposite directions." "Figuratively speaking, pulling raisins from a bun does not suit us," Sergei Ivanov stressed. Return to Menu I. Announcements 1. Remarks by Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov at the Signing Ceremony of the Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program Today we all are witnesses to a great event, the completion of tremendous work to prepare the Agreement on the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program in the Russian Federation (MNEPR) and the Protocol to the Agreement. This Agreement is ushering in a new stage of our joint efforts in addressing such urgent issues as disposal of decommissioned atomic-powered submarines and atomic technological service vessels in Russia's north-west. We will cooperate in developing an infrastructure for the safe handling of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The rehabilitation of the sites of former coast bases of Russia's Navy in the Andreyeva Bay and the Gremikha community will become an important part of our cooperation. All this is a practical contribution towards the solution of problems that are common to all of us, problems of non-proliferation, disarmament, fight against terrorism and stronger nuclear security. The Agreement relates to the vital interests of the peoples of our countries because its implementation will make it possible to strengthen security, improve the environmental situation and enable more effective protection of public health. The special importance of the MNEPR Agreement consists in the fact that this regional initiative is now acquiring global dimensions. A certain legal framework is being created for the implementation of the goals and objectives of the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, as agreed by the G8 leaders at their Kananaskis summit last year. It is of fundamental importance that we will now be able to use this Agreement as a guide in working out bilateral accords under the Global Partnership. This is true, in particular, of the Russian-British additional agreement on nuclear environmental cooperation that will be signed shortly. Russia is making ready to execute other similar agreements, in particular, with Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan. We welcome the beginning of talks - as early as tomorrow - between the parties to the MNEPR Agreement on its practical implementation. The important thing now is to promptly identify and reach agreement on concrete projects that will be carried out under the "umbrella" of the MNEPR Agreement. The Russian side is ready for such work. I would like to conclude by thanking the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ms. Lindh, for the brilliant organization of our meeting today. At a time of the currently difficult world situation the results of this meeting demonstrate the ability of our countries to jointly resolve complex international security problems and find mutually acceptable solutions. Return to Menu J. Links of Interest 1. Beyond the Nuclear Shadow: A Phased Approach for Improving Nuclear Safety and U.S-Russian Relations Return to Menu 2. The Duma Ratifies the Moscow Treaty 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@216.119.87.134 |
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