STATEMENT BY ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, THE OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN OF RUSSIA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Regarding Decisions by Houses of US Congress on Assistance to Russia in Elimination of Weapons
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
INFORMATION AND PRESS DEPARTMENT
32/34 Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl., 119200, Moscow G-200; tel.: (095) 244 4119, fax: 244 4112
e-mail: dip@mid.ru, web-address: www.mid.ru
06.06.2003
1330-05-06-2003
Moscow has received with satisfaction news of the approval by both Houses of the US Congress of the full amount of funds - 450 million dollars - asked by the US administration for rendering assistance to Russia and the CIS under Pentagon auspices (the Nunn-Lugar program) in the financial year 2004. The Russian side has positively noted the fact that the Senate and the House of Representatives in their versions of the defense spending bill for one more year - until September 30, 2004 - gave the US president the right to authorize financing for the construction of a chemical weapons destruction facility (CWDF) in Shchuchye.
We welcome these important decisions reflecting the expansion of genuinely partner relations between our two countries, directed to a joint fight against common threats, including on the basis of the historic accords of the Group of Eight leaders with regard to the Global Partnership (GP) Against the Spread of WMDs. The ongoing and predictable financing by the US of disarmament and nonproliferation projects in Russia, undoubtedly, can become an important contribution to the implementation of the GP Action Plan, just adopted at the Group of Eight summit in Evian.
At the same time we could not but take note of the fact that the American side continues the policy of setting forth additional unjustified conditions pertaining to the expansion of its assistance to the Russian projects. Particularly disquieting is the fact that the list of these conditions is not decreasing, but on the contrary increasing. Here is but one example: in 2004 there is to be "suspended" an amount of 100 million dollars for the financing of the CWDF in Shchuchye until Russia or some "third" country allocates for this project 50 million dollars, even though previously the American side had more than once favorably noted the considerable buildup of the financial participation of Russia in dealing with GP problems, in the first place in the destruction of Russia's stockpiles of chemical weapons.
The American decisions are creating some additional difficulties for us, as what is involved here are not only the plans for the construction of the facility in Shchuchye, but also our cooperation with other G8 countries to which we have offered individual projects. The US is essentially inducing partners to work only on the project in Shchuchye, leaving without adequate financing the other important projects in this field.
We have repeatedly voiced concern over the unrhythmical development of Russian-American cooperation in the destruction of chemical weapons, pointing to the counter-productiveness of political linkages. We would like to hope that a pragmatic approach will prevail in Washington towards the solution of such chronic problems of Cold War vintage problems creating obstacles to full-format Russian-American cooperation in questions of nonproliferation and the elimination of weapons subject to reduction.
© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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