9/12/2002: COMMUNIST LEADER CLAIMS NUCLEAR WARHEADS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR On 12
September 2002 Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petr Simonenko claimed that of 2,400 nuclear warheads that had been
deployed in Ukraine prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, documents confirm
that only 2,200 were removed from the country to Russia.[2] On the same day, Ukrainian parliament member Sergei Sinchenko, the chair of a
committee that investigates illegal weapons trading, said that
all warheads from tactical nuclear weapons had in fact been removed from Ukraine
to Russia, but that some had not been accounted for. Simonenko had not
specified whether the supposedly missing warheads were tactical or strategic.[1] On 13
September 2002, Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh said there was "no
basis" for Simonenko's claim that 200 nuclear warheads remain in Ukraine.[2] Deputy Secretary of
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Sergei Pirozhkov said that
information regarding the transfer of the warheads was being looked into,
but said that such a disappearance of warheads would not have been possible
given the controls that were in place during the transfer. At the same
time, Deputy Chief-of-Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Nikolai Goncharenko said that "all warheads stipulated in the trilateral agreement
on implementing the strategic offensive weapons treaty were handed over to
Russia."[3] Sources:
"Chast boyegolovok pri vyvoze s Ukrainy v Rossiyu ne byla uchtena,
zayavlyayet parlamentarii,"
Interfax, 12 September 2002
[2]
"Premer Ukrainy oprovergayet zayavleniye o tom, chto v strane mogli ostatsya
200 yadernykh boyegolovok," Interfax, 13 September 2002.
[3] "Ukrainskiye
vlasti proveryayut informatsiyu o propazhe 200 yadernykh boyegolovok,"
Interfax, 13 September 2002.
3/10/95: US SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR WEAPONS STORAGE
The United States and Ukraine signed contracts worth $2.8 million for the safe storage of weapons, the construction of a second missile fuel storage site near the town of Shevchenko, and the transport of warheads from Ukraine to Russia. During the course of 1994, Ukraine paid for the shipments on its own; but as of 1995, Nunn-Lugar funds were provided for that purpose. [Serhiy Zhurets, NARODNAYA ARMIYA (Kyiv), 3/10/95, in "Discussions of Nunn-Lugar Funds," JPRS-TAC-95-002, 3/10/95.]
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