11 December 2000 Two Sets of Arms Control Agreements Signed in Geneva by Wendy Lubetkin Washington File European Correspondent Geneva -- Arms control negotiators from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a set of documents in Geneva December 11 that provide for the phased elimination under the START Treaty of the last SS-24 ICBMs remaining on Ukrainian soil. The same five nations are set to sign a separate agreement December 14 related to the dismantling of infrastructures used as part of the INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty's extensive inspection regime. Both the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and the INF Treaty -- landmark treaties which launched the process of nuclear disarmament between the United States and the former Soviet Union -- face important milestones next year. The INF Treaty's successful inspection regime is set to expire on May 31, 2001. Although INF's ban on ground-launched missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers is permanent, its inspection regime and related infrastructures must be disassembled by the May 31 deadline. The deadline for eliminations under the START treaty falls on December 4, 2001. The final START limits of 1,600 deployed strategic nuclear delivery vehicles and 6,000 deployed strategic warheads on each side must be met by that date. "Both we and the Russians are down to something a little bit over 6,000 deployed strategic warheads," said a senior U.S. official who spoke on background. "We will both easily be down below the 6,000 limit by next December. But the key thing is that those limits are obviously too high since the U.S. and Russia already have agreed to lower levels." START II would bring levels almost 50 percent lower than START, setting the total number of deployed strategic warheads at 3,000-3,500. In addition, START II would ban the deployment of the most destabilizing type of strategic weapons system: land-based ICBMs with multiple, independently targetable warheads. Although both the United States and Russia have ratified START II, the Treaty has not yet entered into force. START III parameters agreed to by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin in Helsinki in 1997 call for bringing the level down even further to a range of between 2,000 and 2,500, but formal negotiations have not yet begun. Although major issues on the future direction of strategic arms control will need to be decided at the highest level by the next administration, the official emphasized that, in the meantime, essential work on the implementation of existing agreements is continuing smoothly. "We are working here in a cooperative manner, getting implementing agreements signed, and making the adjustments that we need to get the job done," the official said. The agreement in Geneva on a two-phased approach to dismantling of the missiles in Ukraine was "in the national security interest" of the United States, he said. "Remember that these missiles were once aimed against the United States. It would have taken them between 15 and 30 minutes to reach the U.S., and each one could have destroyed a major U.S. city." The agreement provides that a party to the treaty may request a phased procedure for its own mobile missiles. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was left with about 200 ICBMs and hundreds of nuclear warheads on its soil. All nuclear warheads, both strategic and tactical, have already been removed from Ukraine. The missiles are being eliminated in Ukraine in cooperation with the United States under the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program. All ICBMs and related infrastructures based in Belarus and Kazakhstan have already been either dismantled or removed from the country under START. Around 40 SS-25 mobile missiles and their launchers were removed from Belarus and returned to Russia, and 104 huge SS-18s were removed from Kazakhstan and returned to Russia by the end of 1996 and their silo launchers were eliminated. The official said that 50 to 60 missiles remain to be eliminated in Ukraine, most of which are SS-24s, "a fairly modern missile capable of carrying ten warheads each." The main obstacle to getting on with the dismantling effort has been wording in the START treaty implying that the entire missile should be eliminated at one time. American personnel are already in Ukraine to assist with the effort under the CTR program but the process had become stalled over the question of defueling the missile stages. The United States is still working with Ukraine to find methods for safe defueling and for Ukraine to use the fuel in its civilian economy. The agreements signed December 11 in Geneva provide specific procedures for the SS-24 ICBMs to be dismantled in two phases. "The first phase of the elimination will destroy major components that are essential to the integrity of the missiles. After completion of this first phase, the missile will no longer be useable," the official explained. "The removal of all nuclear weapons from the territory of these three Soviet successor states is a huge success in the history of nuclear disarmament," the official said. In a separate agreement, the same five countries will initial on December 14 an amendment to the INF Treaty's Memorandum of Agreement outlining "principles and procedures" for completing the continuous monitoring inspection regime. INF, the first treaty to lead to the complete elimination of an entire class of missiles, places a permanent ban on the deployment of ground launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Although the Treaty itself has no time limit, its comprehensive and successfully implemented thirteen-year inspection regime will end on May 31, 2001. The INF Treaty established continuous "portal" monitoring at gates to major missile assembly plants in the United States and Russia. That monitoring will end on May 31, although other types of monitoring will continue under the START treaty. "We are going to begin dismantling the INF specific equipment on April 15 and will conclude by May 31," the U.S. official said. "It has been a thirteen year, successful inspection regime. And remember, it was signed during the Cold War." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File