Background

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, a principal U.S. security concern and policy goal has been to promote the safety, security and dismantlement (SSD) of nuclear weapons from the arsenal of the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. This goal includes achieving the total denuclearization of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, the three new independent states which, in addition to Russia, have former Soviet nuclear weapons located on their territories. The United States also seeks to accelerate the reduction of Russia's nuclear weapons.

The resources for SSD assistance come from the Department of Defense, which is responsible for implementing these programs. Under the original Nunn-Lugar Act, Congress authorized the President to spend $400 million in Department of Defense appropriations to assist activities related to weapons dismantlement in the NIS. Subsequently, the National Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1993 raised this amount to $800 million. Congress approved an additional $400 million as part of the Fiscal Year 1994 Defense Appropriations Act. As required by this legislation, the President must recertify these countries annually as being eligible for continued assistance under these programs. Each of these countries is currently certified by the President as eligible to receive U.S. SSD assistance.

The United States has taken the lead in providing SSD assistance to the NIS, but it has also indicated that it cannot undertake the entire effort alone. In April 1993, the United States formally approached NATO, Japan and other U.S. friends and allies also to provide denuclearization assistance to the NIS. The United States also began regular, formal consultations with NATO Allies in Brussels to ensure that our separate programs would take advantage of our comparative strengths and different funding arrangements, complement each other and avoid needless duplication.

SSD and U.S. Strategy

U.S. assistance for denuclearization and the elimination of other weapons of mass destruction in the NIS is one of the most important elements of overall U.S. strategy in that region, which is to draw these states into Western and global political and economic institutions. U.S. SSD assistance facilitates and accelerates the NIS implementation of the START I Treaty and reduces proliferation threats to the United States and U.S. allies. The close cooperation between U.S. and former Soviet technical experts that is required to implement SSD programs will also further our objectives by establishing and strengthening valuable ties between our militaries and scientific communities.

The SSD Program today is underway and working. The United States has signed individual "Umbrella Agreements" with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine that establish the necessary legal framework for providing such U.S. assistance. In addition to these Umbrella Agreements, U.S. SSD delegations have negotiated and completed 31 SSD implementing agreements that provide specific types and amounts of U.S. technical and material assistance. Each of these agreements has entered into force. As a result, tangible U.S. assistance is already being provided in some important areas. (Please see attached list.)

Perhaps most important, the prospect of U.S. denuclearization assistance has helped to make further progress in arms control possible. SSD assistance for the dismantlement of strategic offensive arms is intended to accelerate reductions and eliminations required by the START I Treaty. Other related successes include Belarus' and Kazakhstan's decisions to join the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) as non-nuclear weapon states and Ukraine's recent unconditional ratification of the START I Treaty, which included a commitment in the Lisbon Protocol to join the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state in the shortest possible time.

Types of Assistance Being Provided

SSD implementing agreements will provide the following types of technical and material assistance to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine:

First, they will provide critical support for the physical dismantlement of former Soviet strategic offensive arms in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. These are perhaps the most remarkable SSD agreements because the ICBMs (including their silo launchers), submarines, and heavy bombers to be dismantled with U.S. assistance were, under the Soviet Union, aimed at the United States. Their elimination will constitute a watershed in U.S. NIS relations and result in an unparalleled increase in U.S. national security.

Second, SSD agreements will enhance safety in the NIS. In all four NIS states with former Soviet nuclear weapons located on their territories--Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine--agreements have been concluded to provide U.S. emergency response equipment that can be used in a nuclear accident associated with nuclear weapons transport or dismantlement.

Because all former Soviet nuclear weapons located outside Russia will be returned to Russia for dismantlement, Russia has special needs for U.S. support in the safety area. After consulting with Russian technicians to determine their specific requirements, SSD agreements were concluded to provide Russia such specialized equipment as fissile material containers, flexible armor blankets to protect these containers during transport and storage, and safe and secure railcars for transporting nuclear weapons and fissile material, The United States is also providing design assistance and construction and operating equipment for a fissile material storage facility that will contain material from dismantled former Soviet nuclear weapons.

Third, SSD agreements will help to prevent further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. SSD agreements provide for U.S. export control assistance to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to help make sure that key technologies necessary for the development of nuclear weapons do not find their way out the former Soviet Union. The United States is also helping Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine develop or improve of their fissile material control and accounting procedures. This will help ensure that fissile material from dismantled nuclear weapons remains under control and is properly accounted for at all times. Other SSD agreements approach the nonproliferation problem more broadly. For instance, agreements with Russia and Ukraine will establish science and technology centers in Moscow and Kiev to help former Soviet nuclear weapon scientists and technicians apply their knowledge and special skills to peaceful activities. Other SSD agreements are intended to help Belarus and Russia convert former Soviet defense industries to productive civilian enterprises.

Fourth, SSD agreements already in force are helping to improve the implementation of arms control agreements by Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. This assistance was necessary because, before the independence of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, all such implementation activities were conducted by Moscow. Now each of these countries will be equal parties to important arms control treaties such as INF, ABM and START.

As we help the states of the NIS eliminate weapons of mass destruction, U.S. national security and their own security will increase; their developing democracies will be strengthened, and opportunities for U.S. private investment in their developing market economies will grow.