Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
4/04/2014
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stoked tensions between Washington and Moscow, and the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee said this week that it raised serious questions about Ukraine’s 20-year-old decision to give up its nuclear weapons as well. “The Ukraine was the third power with regards to nuclear weapons,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said during an exchange with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Rebecca Hersman at a subcommittee hearing April 1. “They signed an agreement with Russia and the United States that I understand basically says, you know, give up your nukes and we’ll take care of you forever,” Fischer said.
The 1994 Budapest Memorandum signed by the U.S., Russia and Ukraine guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty, but Russia this week said that it had not violated the agreement with its recent actions to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine. “The current Kiev ‘government,’ which came to power in the wake of an unconstitutional coup, carried out policies, especially in relation to ethnic minorities, that in essence undermined Ukraine’s unity and pushed a whole region out of the country,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in an April 1 statement. According to news reports, Ukraine has rejected Russia’s rationale.
‘It Won’t Really Change Their Policy’
In her testimony this week, Hersman suggested that Russia’s actions don’t diminish the value of security guarantees such as the one found in the Budapest Memorandum and suggested such a move wouldn’t diminish the value of relinquishing nuclear weapons, as Ukraine did. “I think the value of pursuing a policy of nonproliferation and a rejection of nuclear weapons by countries like Ukraine will continue to be the best path forward for them,” Hersman said, adding: “I think that it won’t really change their policy or the approach, despite some of these concerns from Russia.”
Fischer, however, was unconvinced, and pressed Hersman on the issue. “So is forever now 20 years? Is that the mark that we’re going to go by?” she said. “And do you think other nations are going to look at that and think we can give up our weapons as well and be protected?” She later asked: “How would you respond to my concerns and what I believe would be concerns with any other nation sitting back and watching our lack of action in honoring that agreement?” Hersman said, “I think they remain very committed,” but asked to follow up with Fischer with a statement in writing.
Nonproliferation Work Ongoing With Russia
Obama Administration officials at the hearing this week said some nonproliferation work with Russia is continuing despite tensions between the countries, though Hersman said the Pentagon is “carefully evaluating our activities in the region to ensure full consistency with the President’s guidance.” Her comments echo remarks from the Department of Energy last week that it was reviewing nonproliferation activities in Russia after it cancelled a plan to provide laser-based protective force training equipment to Moscow.
Work has slowed because of the expiration of the Cooperative Threat Reduction umbrella agreement last year, but Hersman said activity continues on two already-authorized projects: the dismantlement of a Delta 3 strategic submarine and the transport of highly enriched submarine spent fuel to a more secure location in Russia. “We believe these continue to be priority threat reduction activities and important to the U.S. national security interest,” Hersman said, adding, “We are mindful, however, that the DOD CTR program has a history of continued cooperation on vital threat reduction matters even through difficult periods of the U.S.-Russia relationship, and we hope this will continue to be the case.”
‘Both Sides Have Recognized the Importance’
NNSA nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington echoed those comments, noting that work with Russia was continuing to strengthen security work at six Russian sites that house nuclear and radiological material, as well as with material in transit. She also said work was ongoing to create a sustainable nuclear security infrastructure in Russia, which she said includes strengthening Russia’s nuclear and radiological security regulatory requirements. “We also have had a history with Russia where even during times of high political tension, both sides have recognized the importance of the work, certainly from our perspectives,” she said. “The work we do there to secure nuclear warheads, weapons-capable material and other activities are vital to the U.S. national interest.”
