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Russia Eliminates Atomic Energy Ministry, Raising Nonproliferation Concerns
Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
March 10, 2004

WASHINGTON — As part of a massive government reorganization, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday broke up the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and reassigned its activites to other cabinet-level ministries. The move to formally eliminate the ministry has triggered concern among some experts that the resulting government structure could complicate U.S.-Russian nonproliferation efforts (see GSN, March 4).

A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington today confirmed that the Atomic Ministry had been eliminated. Under the new governmental structure, civilian nuclear activities will be handled by the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, part of the newly created Industry and Energy Ministry, embassy spokesman Yevgeniy Khorishko told Global Security Newswire. Former Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev would head the new, lower-level agency, Khorishko said. He also said that military aspects of the former Atomic Energy Ministry have been transferred to the Defense Ministry.

The Russian government plans to finalize its new structure within one to two months, Matthew Bouldin of the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council said today, adding that questions remain as to what is “defense-related” and therefore will be transferred to the Defense Ministry.

“The Russians don’t even know [yet] what’s where,” he said.

The changes to the Russian Cabinet, coming in advance of presidential elections Sunday that Putin is expected to win, are meant as “administrative reform” to make the government more effective, Khorishko said. Overall, Putin reduced the number of governmental ministries from 30 to 17, eliminating such ministries as education, culture, energy, health, transportation and monopoly regulation, according to the Washington Post.

The Post today cited experts as saying the reorganization was intended to remove the last ministers remaining from the presidency of Boris Yeltsin.

The U.S. Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees departmental nonproliferation efforts in Russia, had no comment today on the elimination of the Atomic Energy Ministry.

On a “strategic” level, the streamlining of the Russian government could be a positive move by removing layers of bureaucracy, said Rose Gottemoeller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nonproliferation Project. She warned, though, that the move could complicate the decision-making and implementation aspects of the U.S.-Russian bilateral nonproliferation relationship. Some sections of the Defense Ministry’s bureaucracy have a history of poor cooperation with the United States, Gottemoeller said. She cited the ministry’s 12th Directorate, responsible for Russian nuclear munitions, which she said has in the past been uncooperative in providing access for nonproliferation efforts conducted through the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program.

Another concern, according to Bouldin, is the issue of which U.S. agencies will handle various CTR projects. For example, the U.S. Defense Department has traditionally worked with the Russian Defense Ministry, raising questions as whether the Pentagon will assume control over more nonproliferation efforts or whether the U.S. Energy Department will have to develop new ties with the Defense Ministry, Bouldin said.

Bouldin also said the new government structure could result in nonproliferation being given less of a priority at least on a “ministerial level.”

Russian experts defended Putin’s move, reiterating that the reorganization was part of necessary administrative reform. Noting the relatively small number of U.S. governmental departments, Andrei Piontkovsky, director of the Strategic Research Center in Moscow, said today that Putin’s reorganization of his cabinet represents a move toward the standard practices of other countries. Piontkovsky also said it was it was a “logical step” to transfer all military-related nuclear activities to the Defense Ministry.

The new industry and energy minister, Viktor Khristenko, has received “high marks” for such accomplishments as gas-and-oil pipeline policy and for a willingness to bring multinational oil companies to Russia, Gottemoeller said. Khristenko also has some experience with civilian nuclear activities, she said.

Over the past few years, though, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham developed a strong working relationship with Rumyantsev, Gottemoeller said. While it would not be “difficult” to establish a similar relationship with Khristenko, it will take time, she added.