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Russia Scraps ICBM Launcher, Cooperates With Canada
Russia yesterday blew up a silo-based launcher for its RS-20B Voyevoda ICBM, known in the West as the SS-18 Satan, ITAR-Tass reported (see GSN, June 16). The Russian Defense Ministry previously eliminated another launcher this year. “Another four SBLs of the Kartaly missile division will be scrapped by the end of this year,” a source said. “The combined unit was taken off combat duty in May and by December it will be completely disbanded according to reform plans for the Strategic Missile Troops,” the source said. Russian silo-based launchers are being deactivated under the START 1 Treaty with the United States. Two divisions of Strategic Missile Troops remained armed with more than 80 Voyevoda missiles, ITAR-Tass reported (ITAR-Tass/BBC Monitoring, June 30). The lower house of Russia’s parliament today approved an agreement under which Canada will provide funding and technical support for elimination of Russian nuclear submarines and chemical weapons, ITAR-Tass reported. While the Duma document does not indicate a specific funding amount, a Canadian official previously indicated that Ottawa had set aside $220 million for the effort (Sofia Filippova, ITAR-Tass, July 1). Russia plans to eliminate all decommissioned nuclear vessels — estimated by one Duma lawmaker at 90 submarines and two surface ships — by 2010, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said today. The vessels are breaking down in naval shipyards, stoking fears of radioactive leaks or diversion of nuclear materials, the Associated Press reported. Rumyantsev said Russia has enough money to dispose of the ships and submarines, but that foreign funding would quicken the process, according to Interfax (Associated Press, July 1).
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