G8 SUMMIT: U.S., Russia, In New Nuclear Agreement

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Reprint | | Print |

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Jul 19 2006 (IPS) - After the decades of a nuclear standoff during the Cold War, the United States and Russia, the biggest remnant of the old Soviet Union, are now moving towards nuclear cooperation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush have declared their common commitment to combating the threat of international nuclear terrorism. That agreement came in a joint statement at the G8 summit earlier this week.

This was one of a series of measures to boost nuclear security cooperation between the two countries following several years of negotiations.

Signed by the two leaders at the end of June, the agreement was made public during the G8 summit which brought together leaders from the G8 countries (the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan). The summit was held in St.. Petersburg in Russia.

Russia, as this year’s G8 president, has made energy security a priority though it also listed education and infectious diseases as prime issues. The energy priority came after some resistance in the West to Moscow’s efforts to use its vast hydrocarbon and nuclear resources as geopolitical leverage for domination.

But the G8 leadership did speak in one voice on several issues.

“We welcome the important non-proliferation commitments India has made, and India’s closer alignment with the non-proliferation regime mainstream,” Bush and Putin said in a joint statement. “We look forward to working with India on civilian nuclear cooperation to address its energy requirements, and on further enhancing the global non-proliferation regime.”

The Indian government recently agreed to allow international inspectors and safeguards at 14 civilian nuclear reactors – part of a proposed nuclear energy agreement with the United States. In return, the Bush administration would ship nuclear fuel to India.

Experts said the new agreement suggests that the presidents would move towards wholesale cooperation on nuclear resources and related industries.

“For the United States and Russia to come to terms over nuclear energy simply demonstrates some common understanding, and would further remove restrictions on any aspects of cooperation in the industry,” head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow Rose Gottemobller told IPS.

“It has not been signed earlier than now because the U.S. was deeply concerned about the Russian level of cooperation in civilian nuclear industry and Russia-Iranian uranium deals and the building of a nuclear rector in Iran. But now it’s a significant diplomatic breakthrough and a major step forward in their efforts in this field,” she said.

In a joint statement, the United States and Russia called upon other nations to accelerate efforts to develop partnership capacity to combat nuclear terrorism on a determined and systematic basis.

“We will take steps to improve participants’ capabilities, physical protection of nuclear material and radioactive substances, as well as security of nuclear facilities; detect and suppress illicit trafficking or other illicit activities involving such materials, especially measures to prevent their acquisition and use by terrorists, respond to and mitigate the consequences of acts of nuclear terrorism,” the statement said.

The G8 also called on all states that are not signatories to the treaty on the non- proliferation of nuclear weapons, the chemical weapons convention and the biological weapons convention as well as the Hague code of conduct against ballistic missile proliferation to immediately ratify these agreements.

Despite the final declaration some problems remain, especially with China and North Korea. China has not distanced itself from North Korea to the extent that Western nations want. Putin said it is necessary to return to the negotiation table on North Korea’s nuclear programme as soon as possible.

But he made note of the “cautious optimism” of the Chinese leader. “Chairman Hu Jintao expressed cautious optimism that it is still possible to resolve the North Korean problem by political and diplomatic means, to create conditions for making the peninsula a nuclear-free zone and negotiate missile problems,” Putin told a news conference.

The adoption of the United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korea’s missile programme is a signal to Pyongyang, the Russian foreign ministry announced.

“This UN security council resolution sends a strong signal to North Korea to continue the talks in the interests of stronger security and stability in this region of Asia,” the ministry said in a release.