United States Department of Defense

U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry announced today that the U.S. and Russia signed an amendment and two new agreements adding up to a total of $40 million in additional U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) assistance for strategic offensive arms dismantlement and nuclear weapons security in Russia. Secretary Perry also announced that the Department of Defense (DoD) would provide an additional $10 million contribution to the International Science and Technology Center in Russia for projects to re-employ former weapons scientists on civilian projects. This total of $50 million in assistance will be provided from the DoD's CTR or "Nunn-Lugar" program. Secretary Perry is currently visiting the Russian Federation.

Secretary Perry and Chairman of the Russian Committee for Defense Industry Glukhikh, signed an amendment adding up to $20 million in assistance to expedite the dismantlement of Strategic Offensive Arms (SOA) in Russia under the terms of the START Treaty. This amendment increases to $150 million the assistance provided under the "Agreement between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Committee for Defense Industry of the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Elimination of Strategic Offensive Arms," originally signed on August 26, 1993. Under this amendment, DoD will support the procurement of additional services, equipment items, maintenance, and training needed for specific dismantlement and elimination efforts for submarine ballistic missile launchers, liquid missile propellant, solid rocket motors, heavy bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and ICBM silos. Specific services and items to be procured are being defined through continuing technical discussions with Russia.

Secretary Perry said he hopes this additional dismantlement assistance will be the initial stage of a multi-year effort to provide support for Russian implementation of START I and START II. Highlighting the importance of this assistance, Secretary Perry saw U.S. and Russian cooperation in action at the Engels Air Base. Russian personnel at Engels demonstrated their use of specialized cutting equipment provided by the U.S. under the CTR program to dismantle the wings of a heavy bomber previously used to carry nuclear weapons.

Additionally, Russian Minister of Defense Pavel Grachav and Secretary Perry signed two new agreements on nuclear weapons security for up to a total of $20 million in U.S. assistance. The first agreement provides for up to $17 million in assistance for the safe, secure and environmentally sound transportation of nuclear weapons. The second provides for up to $3 million for assistance to enhance the security of facilities which store nuclear weapons until they are dismantled. Both projects are to help the Russian Ministry of Defense improve security and accounting of nuclear weapons, and in the process, to enhance the Russian nuclear weapons chain of custody and fissile material control systems. These efforts will contribute to the safety and security of nuclear weapons and materials until their ultimate disposition and reduce the possibility of seizure, theft, sale, or other unauthorized use of nuclear weapons or nuclear components.

The types of assistance to be provided under the transportation security agreement will include: diagnostic railcars to assess conditions of the railroad tracks and reduce the probability of accidents involving trains shipping nuclear weapons; and additional containers to protect nuclear weapons during transport. Facility security assistance will include: enhanced weapons inventory management and tracking systems, heavy armored blankets, consultations about personnel reliability, and enhancements to the physical security afforded weapons and material within the Ministry of Defense's custody.

Secretary Perry also announced that the U.S. would increase by $10 million the U.S. contribution to the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) in Moscow. This would bring the total U.S. contribution to the ISTC to $35 million. The ISTC was established to prevent the proliferation of weapons' expertise and technology by providing employment on peaceful civilian research projects for scientists and engineers formerly involved with weapons of mass destruction. Over 5,000 former Soviet weapon scientists and engineers are currently being re-employed through 96 ISTC projects. Other contributors to the ISTC include the European Community, that has contributed $25 million and Japan, that has contributed $17 million

All these activities increased the total the U.S. has committed under Nunn-Lugar agreements and programs with Russia to $579 million. The Department of Defense has obligated about $300 million to date for these projects.