Russian gov't plans to assess benefits and harm of Nunn-Lugar program
VLADIVOSTOK. Dec 18 (Interfax) - The Russian government intends to assess the financial benefits and the harm caused to defense as a result of U.S. specialists' 'trips' as part of the Nunn-Lugar program to dispose of waste from nuclear submarines, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters.
"Roughly up to $16 million is allocated per submarine. However, it is accompanied by all kinds of visits to workshops of defense [industry enterprises]. We do not like it very much. That is why we want to calculate what real financial bonus we receive, and what harm is caused to our defense capability, from the point of view of technical control over our production," he said.
"We will analyze everything and report it to the leadership of the country; the premier and the president. And certain decisions will be made. So far, I would not like to forecast them. It would be only speculation," Rogozin said.
The Nunn-Lugar program has been implemented in Russia since 1991, he said.
"An additional protocol to it was adopted in 2013. Its point is that we decided to narrow American specialists' possibilities to walk around our defense [industry] plants, especially those in charge of the nuclear triad," the deputy prime minister said.
"Literally yesterday, I paid my attention to a report published online about a statement made by the U.S. undersecretary of energy, who spoke in favor of resuming joint work as part of the Nunn-Lugar program. This program is large and extensive. As many as 33 submarines have been disposed of as part of it. However, it is necessary to say that this money is not all American. Most of it is our own budget funds," he added.