Title:  "Russia Commits to End Biological Weapons Program." The Russian government has agreed to a series of specific steps designed to bring it into compliance with the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. (920914)

Translated Title:  Rusia se compromete terminar con programa armas biologicas. (920914)
Author:  DYBVIK, RUSSELL E (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date:  19920914

Text:
RUSSIA COMMITS TO END BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM

(Statement issued after talks with U.S., UK) (1050) By Russell Dybvik USIA Diplomatic Correspondent Washington -- The Russian government has agreed to a series of specific steps designed to bring it into compliance with the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the State Department announced September 14.

"We've known for many years that the Soviet Union maintained an offensive biological weapons program in violation of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention," spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing. Since 1984, the United States has reported that fact annually to Congress and the American public.

In addition, the issue has been raised repeatedly with the former Soviet leadership and, more recently, with Russian leaders. But it was only last week, at a meeting with senior officials of the United States and Britain in Moscow, that Russian officials confirmed the existence of such a program.

"They committed themselves to dismantling all aspects of that program," Boucher said. A three-page statement issued following the September 10-11 meeting outlined a series of steps the Russian government has already undertaken or will undertake to bring it into compliance with the convention. The three governments also agreed to set up working groups to deal with specific problem areas and stated their agreement that biological weapons have no place in their armed forces.

Last April 11, Russian President Yeltsin issued a decree ordering the termination of research on offensive biological weapons, the dismantlement of experimental technological lines for the production of biological agents and the closure of biological weapons testing facilities. Personnel involved in military biological programs were cut by 50 percent and research funds were cut by 30 percent as well.

"We are convinced that President Yeltsin and his government are sincere in their commitment to full compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention," the spokesman declared. "What we want them to do is to demonstrate effectively that they have terminated the program."

Later, a senior State Department official said the Moscow meeting had been "very important" because "we've come to terms with the Russians on how to deal with a weapons threat that was the greatest biological weapons threat we faced, as a nation and the world at large."

He pointed out that biological weapons are "enormously ineffective" but are "weapons of terror," which could produce "enormous losses." Another senior administration official noted that while uniformed military units can take effective counter measures, biological weapons have "horrific consequences for unprotected civilian populations."

"We appreciate the efforts of the current Russian government to deal with its legacy of an illegal offensive biological weapons program," the State Department official said, adding the results of the Moscow mission indicate "how far the Russians have come since Russia broke from the Soviet Union."

Former Soviet President Gorbachev "ducked" the issue of biological weapons when the United States raised it during his years in office, the official said.

"The illegal biological warfare program, which was pursued in violation of the convention to which the Soviet Union was a party and whose obligations Russia has now assumed, has been revealed and is so extensive that elaborate efforts were used to provide cover for the program and protect it from disclosure," the senior official said.

"We clearly do not know the full state of affairs and we do not accept all that's been claimed. Nonetheless, when we raised the subject with the new Russian leadership, the results were dramatic," the official said. "In April, President Yeltsin issued a decree banning illegal biological weapons activity in Russia and we see evidence of dismantling of elements of the military biological warfare system."

The joint statement issued after last week's Moscow meeting "is designed to launch a process which, over time, gives us confidence that Russia has terminated once and for all this program which Russia inherited from its Soviet past," the official said. He said senior officials from all parts of the Russian government, including the ministries of foreign affairs and defense as well as authorities from the health, industry and security field, took part in the Moscow talks.

"The Russian leadership clearly has taken a decision that is a matter of principle and is a part of their becoming a member in good standing of the community of nations," the senior official said. "They understand that their performance under the convention has broader implications for other agreements outstanding, such as START and the chemical (weapons) convention that was recently concluded," he added.

Within several weeks, a joint British and American team will participate in further investigations in Russia and its reports will be made public. "We also have a blanket invitation to visit facilities of concern in Russia under ground rules that guarantee unprecedented access, including access to the entire facility, the ability to take samples, the right to interview the workers and scientists, and the right to record the visits on video and audio tape," the official noted.

The United States "is prepared to consider joint confidence building measures," the official said. However, he pointed out, "our willingness to accept Russian visits to civilian biological research facilities in the United States is dependent on a positive outcome of our initial visits to Russian facilities."

The joint statement does not just deal "with promises for the future, but is a careful codification of the steps they've already taken, the ones they will take or that are partially taken that they will expand upon," the senior official said.

The official said he came away from the Moscow meeting "strengthened in my view that the Russian military was responsive to civilian direction in this matter." He said British and American officials "asked a lot of questions and we got a lot of answers."

There were "cover-ups" and "split responsibilities" with illegal military research hidden within civilian laboratory programs and "interconnection" among programs in both the military and civilian sectors, he said. They admitted what they were doing and where they were doing it, the official said, "so we are developing a pretty comprehensive picture of what happened."

However, he added: "I'm not sure they know -- that is, those Russians with whom we were dealing -- today know all the facts about everything that happened over the 20-year period."

NNNN