Global Security Newswire

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday waived conditions placed on U.S. funding assistance for Russian WMD disposal efforts, eliminating a hurdle for Russia to receive U.S. support (see GSN, Nov. 20).

In a memorandum sent to the secretary of state yesterday, Bush said that he had certified that waiving the funding conditions was “in the national interest of the United States.” The waiver applies to funding intended to assist the construction of a Russian chemical weapons disposal facility (White House release, Dec. 9).

The United States helps to fund Russia’s efforts to dispose of its vast stockpile of Soviet-era weapons of mass destruction through the Cooperative Threat Reduction program. Before funding can be provided, however, the president must certify that Russia has met a set of congressionally mandated conditions, such as that Moscow is making a “substantial investment of its own resources” for destroying weapons of mass destruction and that it is complying with all relevant arms control agreements. Last year, Bush sought and obtained the authority to waive the conditions to continue to provide CTR funding to Russia, an authority that was expanded to 2005 though a provision in the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill (Mike Nartker, GSN, Dec. 9).