News

Memorandum Number: No. 269-M

October 11, 1994

MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently delivered three Caterpillar D9 bulldozers and spare parts valued at approximately $2 million to Russian Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF) bases at Yedrovo, Sechuga and Pibanshur. A fourth unit will be delivered to the base at Uzhur soon. This is the first of a number of planned equipment shipments geared to speed up the dismantlement and elimination of strategic offensive arms in the former Soviet Union as agreed to by START I.

The bulldozers will be used to backfill dismantled ICBM silos and restore the environment in accordance with START I. Future shipments will include power tools such as drills, saws, and plasma cutters that will be used to dismantle the ICBM silos and salvage wire and steel.

Under an August 1993 agreement signed by the DoD and the Committee for Defense Industries of the Russian Federation, the United States is providing up to $130 million in assistance to help Russia meet or accelerate its efforts to meet START I Treaty limitations on strategic nuclear weaponry. American and Russian experts developed specific requirements for equipment that would aid the Russians in this historic work. The first contracts for the equipment were awarded in March 1994, and the delivery of the bulldozers is the result of those contracts. Thus far, the DoD has ordered nearly $70 million worth of equipment to support the Russian strategic offensive arms elimination efforts. Additional shipments under this agreement will include equipment to accelerate heavy bomber and submarine ballistic missile launcher elimination.

This equipment is being funded under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, which is managed and implemented by DoD. The CTR program has evolved from legislation enacted in 1991 for the safety, security and dismantlement of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union. This legislation was proposed by Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar. The United States has already signed agreements to provide $898 million to assist Belarus, Kazakstan, Russia and Ukraine in the destruction of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; transportation, storage and safeguarding of these weapons in connection with their destruction; and the establishment of verifiable safeguards against weapons proliferation. The funds may also be used to assist in establishing industrial partnerships to convert defense industry to civilian production; and to expand defense and military contacts between the United States and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

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