MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Allocations for Russian nuclear submarine scrapping made by participants in the Global Partnership program in 2004 equaled annual budget assignments for this purpose for the first time, Deputy Director of the Russian Atomic Energy Agency Sergei Antipov said on Friday.
"Total allocations of Russia's partners in the scrapping of written-off nuclear submarines were smaller than Russia assigned for this purpose before 2004. It is the first year when the volumes of allocations are equal," Antipov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
This happened thanks to an increase in foreign aid, he said.
"Russia is not reducing the funding level, it still assigns about two billion rubles ($72.2 million) a year for this purpose. Foreigners, even though I am cautious to say that, are beginning to outrace us," Antipov noted.
According to him, the growth in foreign aid volume under the Global Partnership program is largely explained by the Atomic Energy Agency's successful negotiating activity.
"We have been preparing the legal foundation, conducting negotiations, proving that we are doing everything right for three years, since the beginning of Global Partnership implementation. This hard process has finally started to bear fruit," Antipov said.
The process of signing contracts is in full swing, he went on. "We are getting serious money, and the result is obvious," he said.
All written-off submarines will be scrapped before 2012, Antipov noted. At the moment 84 Russian submarines are waiting to be disposed of.
The accord on Global Partnership against proliferation of weapons and materials of mass destruction was adopted by the G-8 member nations at the Kananaskis summit in Canada in June 2002. Under the program, the G-8 nations raise up to $20 billion over 10 years for supporting projects in Russia and other CIS nations, that deal with WMD non-proliferation, disarmament, combating terrorism and nuclear security maintenance.
The U.S. undertook to assign half of the sum, while another $10 billion are to be provided by other G-8 nations, as well as other states joining the program.
As many as 13 states joined the program in 2003 and 2004. Among them are Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands.