Russian Council Approves Multilateral Nuclear Cleanup Agreement

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The upper house of the Russian Federal Assembly last week approved the Framework Agreement on a Multilateral Nuclear Program in the Russian Federation, a measure that will govern international efforts to clean up dangerous nuclear materials in northwestern Russia (see GSN, Dec. 1).

The Federal Council’s approval of the agreement follows a similar action late last month by the assembly’s lower house, the State Duma, and leaves President Vladimir Putin’s signature as the last step required before Russia can bring MNEPR into force by depositing its instrument of ratification with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Patrick Reyners, head of legal affairs at the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency, said the “formality” of the president’s signature is expected to come quickly. He called Russian ratification of the agreement “a very strong encouragement for the other countries.”

“The Russians have acted remarkably quickly. Truly, this has been almost a record for speed in ratifying an international agreement,” said Reyners by telephone from Paris.

Meanwhile, the donors and Russia are working out the details of a side letter to the accord that would provide for tax exemption for MNEPR parties engaged in cleanup projects in Russia (see GSN, Oct. 27). There is some disagreement, however, over how much progress has been made on the letter. Reyners said talks are “in the absolute home stretch” and that a solution acceptable to all parties could come this week, while U.S. State Department negotiator Jeff Miller was more cautious.

“We’ve been discussing this issue, and we’d like to resolve it ― we being the donors and, I’m quite sure, the Russians. If that can happen this week, that would be great. It just depends on the outcome of all donor reviews and then communicating our response to the Russians,” said Miller, a senior negotiator on nuclear safety in the department’s Nonproliferation Bureau.

“The NEA is obviously being optimistic, and I’m not going to say I share their optimism,” he added.

Experts have said Russian ratification of MNEPR could signal a hard line by Moscow on a broad U.S.-Russian dispute over how to assign liability for damages and injuries resulting from activities carried out under such agreements.

At issue is whether Russia should be shielded from liability in case of a premeditated attack causing damages or injuries. The United States has been seeking to impose the language of the 1992 Cooperative Threat Reduction umbrella agreement, which could leave Russia liable in such an attack, as a standard for all such texts. MNEPR liability provisions include the exemption and were drawn up in a separate protocol that was signed by all parties except the United States.

The dispute has led to the termination of two U.S.-Russian threat reduction accords.

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