Five states sign new agreements on intermediate-range nuclear forces (11/22/98)

Five states sign new agreements on intermediate-range nuclear forces

by Wendy Lubetkin
United States Information Agency

GENEVA - The United States, Belarus, Kazakstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine signed seven new agreements on November 9 designed to facilitate the multilateral implementation of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the first treaty to successfully eliminate an entire class of missiles in its signatory states.

A U.S. official in Geneva hailed the set of agreements as a "testimony to continuing cooperation" among the five states.

Although all the intermediate and shorter-range missiles belonging to the U.S. and former Soviet Union have been destroyed, the INF Treaty's ban is permanent and extensive inspections continue to be carried out to ensure that new missiles of this class are not built.

The seven new agreements were negotiated by the Special Verification Commission (SVC), the forum for discussing implementation issues and enhancing the effectiveness of the treaty.

The agreements cover new multilateral operating procedures for the SVC, administrative and cost arrangements, and simplification of procedures for inspections. One of the new agreements, for example, will allow the U.S. Air Force to use a new type of aircraft to ferry inspectors and supplies to and from Votkinsk, a Russian missile plant at the foot of the Urals.

"These agreements show that we are continuing to implement the historic INF Treaty and that we are working very smoothly and cooperatively with the four partners that we carry out the inspection regime with," the official said.

When the INF Treaty was signed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev at the White House in December 1987, it marked the beginning of a new era of arms control.

The INF Treaty brought about the elimination of the entire class of U.S. and Soviet intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, namely those with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Over two-thirds of the missiles in that category were located in the Soviet Union, where most were targeted at Western Europe. Between 1988, when the treaty entered force, and 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union destroyed approximately 2,700 missiles.

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the 12 successor states became parties to the treaty. However, it was agreed that just four of the 12 - Belarus, Kazakstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine - would participate with the United States in the INF inspection regime.

Under the INF treaty, U.S. inspectors continue to maintain a round-the-clock watch at the gate of the missile plant in Votkinsk where the Soviet Union once built the SS-20s that were banned under the treaty. Today anything that comes out of the site and is large enough to contain such a missile is subjected to X-ray imaging. Similar "portal monitoring" is carried out by the Russians in Magna, Utah, where the first stage of the Pershing II missiles banned under the treaty was once built.

The U.S. official noted that missiles for both military and commercial use are still being built at Votkinsk, posing new challenges for U.S. inspectors. "Votkinsk is very much alive as a Russian missile plant," he said, noting that the Russians are bringing out a new one-warhead missile that the U.S. calls the SS-27.

Although START II has not yet been ratified by the Russian Parliament, the new one-warhead missiles appear to be part of a preparatory strategy by the Russians since START II will ban land-based intercontinental missiles with anything more than a single warhead.

The official noted that the United States has inspection rights for the new SS-27 missile under both the INF and START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) treaties. The INF agreements covering those inspections were signed at a Special Verification Commission session in Geneva in November 1997.

Based on its military missiles, Votkinsk is also producing two space launch vehicles designed to carry satellites into orbit. "Interestingly one is called Start and the other Start-1," the official said.

In a communications age version of turning swords into plowshares, the satellite industry has actually helped advance international arms control. The official pointed out that using missiles as vehicles to launch satellites into orbit provides a commercially profitable way of using up or destroying the missiles.

"This is something that Russians and Ukrainians are very interested in doing because it gives them some additional benefit out of their heavy taxpayer investment in these missiles," the official said. The number of missiles that have been destroyed in this manner is still modest, but it is a mutually beneficial trend that is likely to increase in the future, the official said.

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