Russia Signs Onto Bush's WMD Anti-Proliferation Drive

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 6/02/04 | Patrick Goodenough and Sergei Blagov

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(CNSNews.com) - One year after President Bush launched a global drive aimed at preventing weapons of mass destruction from reaching rogue states and terrorists, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) has been boosted by Russia's agreement to join.

The announcement came shortly before Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry charged in a campaign address that the U.S. had done "too little, often too late" in efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Speaking in Florida Tuesday, Kerry said he wanted the U.S. to "launch a new mission ... to prevent the world's deadliest weapons from falling into the world's most dangerous hands."

The speech in West Palm Beach was part of an 11-day focus on Kerry's proposals for national security.

One year ago, President Bush announced the formation of the PSI in a speech in Krakow, Poland. On Tuesday, representatives of the core nations making up the PSI met in that city to note its achievements thus far and discuss ways of moving the initiative forward.

They also welcomed the most significant new arrival to the group, when Russia this week agreed to join the PSI, bringing the number of participants to 15, including all eight G8 members.

Moscow had earlier voiced concerns about aspects of the program, whose focus is to stop and search ships and planes suspected of carrying WMD-related cargoes.

In a videotaped address to the Krakow meeting, Bush hailed the success of the effort, and urged its expansion to target the middlemen and financiers who are driving the deadly trade.

Over the past year, PSI participants have carried out six joint exercises around the world to hone their stop-and-search skills.

The initiative's greatest known success to date was the interception last October of a German ship carrying centrifuge parts to Libya -- a development that contributed to Tripoli's subsequent announcement that it was abandoning its covert nuclear program.

Other significant achievements were the signing of agreements with Liberia and Panama - the world's two largest ship registries - allowing U.S. ships to board and search ships flying their flags if suspected of carrying WMD or related material.

The original 11 core PSI members -- the U.S., Australia, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain -- were later joined by Norway, Singapore and Canada.

With North Korea and Iran among the countries most likely to be of interest to the anti-proliferation group, experts have argued that the absence of China and Russia -- because of their size, location and Security Council veto -- leaves serious gaps in the PSI.

Moscow and Beijing have expressed concern that the initiative could result in unilateral U.S. military action and instability in regions they consider their sphere of influence.

Russia's change of heart was welcomed by the U.S., with undersecretary of state for arms control John Bolton calling it a "major development."

"I think as a political signal Russia joining the core group of PSI is very profound and I think its implications will reach far and wide," Bolton told a news conference in Poland.

"Russia is a great naval power and has extensive land and air space that can be used for commercial activities that we now hope and expect will now be closed to proliferators," he said.

Moscow has made it clear that its support is conditional on PSI actions not violating international law or Russian legislation.

"We view the PSI as a supplement rather than replacement to the existing non-proliferation mechanisms," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We assume that actions within this initiative should not and will not create obstacles to legal economic, scientific and technical cooperation," it added, in an apparent reference to Russia's economic links to suspected proliferators such as Syria and Iran.

Russia is building a 1,000-megawatt light water nuclear reactor for the Iranians at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf coast. Washington has expressed concern that the Russian technology could help Tehran to build nuclear weapons, although both Russia and Iran insist the project is for peaceful purposes only.

Meanwhile, China has given no public sign that that it is prepared to join the PSI, although Bolton said in an interview with "Arms Control Today" last November that the Chinese had told the U.S. "very clearly [that] they support the concept behind the initiative, and that they're prepared to engage in joint activities dealing with WMD trafficking."

See earlier stories:
World's Largest Shipping Registry to Allow WMD Searches (May 13, 2004)
China Worries About 'Mistakes' in Anti-Proliferation Plans (Sept. 26, 2003)

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