98258. Russians Say Yeltsin's Nuclear Pledge Fulfilled
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- About this time last year, Russian
President Boris Yeltsin announced his intention to stop aiming
missiles at members of the NATO alliance. Russian officials now
say Yeltsin's pledge has been fulfilled.
Russia's nuclear weapons have been effectively detargeted,
said Russian authorities attending a Permanent Joint Council
meeting here April 29. In return, NATO authorities assured the
Russians that alliance nations have done the same.
Both sides said nuclear weapons equipped with primary
targeting codes or assignments, are now aimed at empty ocean, not
at each other's territory.
This NATO-Russia council meeting focused on theater nuclear
weapon reductions, nuclear detargeting, and security and safety
of stored, tactical nuclear weapon stocks. The United States,
United Kingdom and France, NATO's three nuclear powers, gave
presentations.
NATO authorities gave Russian officials detailed briefings,
demonstrating NATO's willingness to openly discuss nuclear
issues. A senior NATO official said the historic information
exchange was designed to promote transparency on both sides.
"This was the first ever major consultation between Russia
and NATO on nuclear issues," he said. It was held in NATO's
presentation room, he added, "the sanctum of sanctums."
"When I was a young NATO official many years ago, we
actually used to rehearse nuclear release procedures and nuclear
scenarios in a Cold War situation [here]. Yet, here we are ...
debating nuclear reductions with Russia."
NATO authorities highlighted aspects of the alliance's
nuclear drawdown for the Russians, the official said. During the
Cold War, for example, NATO had five types of tactical nuclear
weapons in Europe. Now there is one -- free-fall gravity bombs
carried on aircraft that can carry nuclear or conventional
weapons. Even these weapons are being reduced, officials said.
U.S. officials told the Russians, by next year, all of the
tactical nuclear weapons withdrawn from Europe will have been
destroyed. "It's not a question that they've been sent back to
the United States to be stored to be brought back to Europe one
day," the NATO official said. "They all will have been actually,
physically destroyed."
NATO allies also expressed concern that Russia still seems
to have a vastly larger tactical nuclear weapon stockpile than
NATO. One main point of the meeting was a discussion of what has
happened to those weapons, officials said. NATO wants to know
what types of weapons the Russians have, where they are stored
and what doctrine governs their use.
The Russians, in turn, gave a presentation on their tactical
nuclear weapons, which they are collecting into centralized
storage sites. These sites make the weapons easier to guard and
destroy. The Russians said the readiness level and research and
development programs for these weapons have both been reduced.
"We did have some useful information on the Russian side,"
the NATO official said. "We heard 50 percent of the tactical
nuclear weapons currently have been reduced, which is encouraging
news."
Officials also shared information on procedures related to
nuclear weapons safety and security. "This involves things like
how good are your storage facilities; how good are your
procedures for making sure there is no rogue access to nuclear
weapons; how well trained are your personnel to operate safe
procedures," the NATO official said.
The Russians also expressed gratitude to several allies for
their help in transporting weapons.
Nuclear experts from both sides will follow up on the
council's discussion, the official said. "We'd like to identify
certain key questions to be answered which can help us get the
information we'd like to have for full transparency on both
sides."
NATO officials would like to know, for example, which
tactical nuclear weapons systems Russia will deploy after the
current reductions and what Russia intends to keep in its
tactical nuclear weapons arsenal.
Russia provided a lot of useful information during the
meeting, but tactical nuclear weapons is "an area which has been
shrouded in mystery," the NATO official said. "There's been a lot
of dialogue on strategic systems because of the [Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty] process so we have a full picture on that, but
tactical nuclear weapons have been a rather murky area."
This first NATO-Russia discussion on nuclear issues was a
good starting point, the official concluded. But further
information exchanges are needed before the two sides can discuss
doctrine and strategy. "This was just a first round in sharing
information on this once highly secret, highly sensitive area,"
he said.
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