RUSSIA NEEDS MORE ASSISTANCE TO DESTROY WEAPONS. Atomic
Energy Minister Valentin Ivanov said on 16 April that Western
countries have provided Russia with only $600 million of the
$2 billion needed to destroy weapons-grade plutonium, Russian
agencies reported. Meanwhile, in a move certain to please
Western governments, President Putin signed a decree
expanding the list of dual-use items subject to government
control, Interfax reported on 13 April. At the same time,
however, Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry announced on 16
April that it intends to go ahead with the sale of additional
nuclear power plants to Iran and Israel, ITAR-TASS reported.
PG
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