Nuclear Warheads

MOSCOW - Joint U.S.-Russian efforts to boost security against potential attacks on Russian storage sites for nuclear warheads have accelerated in recent months, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said here yesterday. Sen. Richard G. Lugar credited the stepped-up pace of activity to a new commitment by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin after a February summit with President Bush in Slovakia. "We've had an agreement for inspections at the warhead storage sites that has broken the logjam of misunderstanding there," the Indiana Republican said at a Moscow news conference.

Seeking a new path to East-West disarmament, Russian and American experts have agreed to team up to develop and build a new type of reactor that can burn plutonium from nuclear warheads and turn the deadly bomb fuel into electricity. The $1.5 billion nuclear reactor would be built in Russia and fueled at least partly by plutonium from Moscow's huge stockpile of scrapped nuclear arms.The initiative, led by General Atomics of San Diego, requires up to $100 million over five years from the American government, which is studying the general idea of burning plutonium and, separately, whether to support the East-West reactor plan.

WASHINGTON -- While awaiting word on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his desire for deep cuts in nuclear forces. He reportedly would consider a treaty permitting Russia and the United States only 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads each. Although Mr. Putin's proposal springs largely from Russia's economic weakness, it is a very sound idea. Whoever wins Florida's electoral votes would be well advised to take his suggestion seriously.

President Barack Obama's call during the State of the Union address to reduce the threat of nuclear war could not have been more timely. The day before the president spoke, North Korea tested a primitive nuclear device, and the following day reports surfaced of Iranian attempts to buy technology that would greatly speed up its production of weapons-grade uranium. Mr. Obama's remarks focused on cutting the U.S. and Russian strategic arsenals in a way that maintains their deterrent function but reduces the chances of a conflict breaking out by accident or miscalculation.

WASHINGTON -- The White House welcomed Ukraine's vote for independence and ordered a special emissary to Kiev this week to discuss what it termed "our future relationship" with the breakaway Soviet republic.Administration officials said that Washington was "moving toward full diplomatic recognition" of the Ukraine but would first seek assurances on issues of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, human rights, existing international treaties, national borders and commitments to free market policies and fair trade.

What is "the greatest long-term threat to the security of the United States"? According to FBI Director Louis Freeh, it is the rise of Mafia-style organized crime in Russia, with its present or potential capacity to steal nuclear weapons and fissile material that can be sold to rogue nations or terrorist groups. "Organized crime has unique abilities to commit theft and diversion," he warns. "This is why we must take action before a major nuclear incident occurs."The action he contemplates is establishing an FBI office in Moscow itself, there to work with Russian police and security officials to combat a wave of criminality engulfing the states of the former Soviet Union.

HIROSHIMA, Japan -- Japanese officials are planning to mark the 50th anniversary of the obliteration of Hiroshima by calling today for bans on nuclear testing and nuclear weapons."

Washington. -- After a frustrating week, first dealing with Congress on the balanced-budget amendment and then dodging tear gas and brickbats in Latin America, President Bush scored a brilliant success during Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Washington. After only five months of negotiation, and in two pages of sparse strategic jargon, the two presidents agreed to make the most sweeping reductions of nuclear weapons in history.How significant was this deal? Just two years ago, the U.S. had 13,000 nuclear warheads in its strategic inventory and the Soviet Union had 11,000.

MORE VALUE WAS lost on the New York Stock Exchange a week ago than the Russian economy produces in 10 years.Russia's economic troubles certainly played a role in triggering the Wall Street correction. But, to put it in perspective, it's important to remember that Russia's entire economy is roughly the size of Illinois'. From a purely American standpoint, the real concern in Russia's domestic crisis is not how it affects the economy, but how it affects the security of her immense arsenal of nuclear weapons.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- President Clinton, hailing "a hopeful and historic breakthrough," announced yesterday an agreement that would finally remove all nuclear weapons from Ukraine -- the world's third largest nuclear arsenal.The bulk of that arsenal is pointed at the United States from the time when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, but it is fear of Moscow that has lately made Ukrainians anxious about giving up the weapons as agreed to under earlier treaties.The agreement announced yesterday contains guarantees that neither Russia or the United States would launch a nuclear attack against Ukraine.