News

Memorandum Number: No. 082-M

March 28, 1995

MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS

The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Belarus Ministry of Defense today announced the opening of an analytical chemistry laboratory in Minsk to assist in the environmental restoration of former military bases in Belarus. The laboratory will be dedicated in a ceremony April 14.

The facility is being established under the Cooperative Threat Reduction(Nunn-Lugar) Program. A $25 million implementing agreement for assisting Belarus with the environmental restoration of former Strategic Rocket Forces bases was signed July 22, 1993, by the DoD and the Belarus Ministry of Defense. American assistance includes the laboratory, remote sensing and geographic information systems, remediation planning, equipment and training to provide Belarus the expertise to assess and clean up environmental damage to former SS-25 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile bases so they can be used for civilian purposes. The Department awarded a $3.5 million contract for the laboratory project to the Environmental Chemical Corporation () Inca., of , Calif., in September 1994. In cooperation with Belarus, modified and improved existing laboratory facilities to establish and furnish the analytical chemistry lab for environmental remediation activities. The U.S. is also training Belarusian technicians on the equipment, laboratory operations and sample collection, preparation and processing. The lab is located at Ecomir,the Belarus agency that will conduct analytical operations for this effort.

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