MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Deputy head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Ivan Kamenskikh said that Russian federal nuclear centers should enjoy a legal status for reliable national defense.
"Despite the strategic importance of tasks, discharged by nuclear centers, they still have to have their legal status defined, unlike state-run scientific centers," Kamenskikh told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday, commenting on the meeting of the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, which had discussed legal aspects of developing nuclear arms and peaceful nuclear programs.
According to him, President Vladimir Putin ordered the problems to be solved on October 17, 2005.
"In order to fulfil the presidential order, the draft decree on determining the legal status of nuclear centers, the amount of and procedure for finances, allocated within the framework of the state defense order, as well as wages paid to nuclear center employees, has been worked out," Kamenskikh noted.
He emphasized that nuclear munitions were the only type of ammunition in service with the Russian Armed Forces that did not undergo any tests, under the CTBT Treaty.
"Given the fact combat readiness, reliability, and safety of the nuclear stock can only be confirmed and guaranteed by corresponding calculations and experiments, conducted by nuclear centers only," Kamenskikh underlined.