MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has called on participants in the Global Partnership program and other developed nations to help Russia in solving social problems of people whose jobs related to nuclear security maintenance are subject to reduction.
In the report entitled "Protecting against the Spread of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons," the CSIS argues that facilitating retirement of WMD industry personnel in Russia, Ukraine and other countries is a simple way of keeping up the industry's reduction that is also acceptable from the financial point of view.
The report reads that Russia has extensive plans of reducing the WMD industry personnel, which especially concern the Atomic Energy Ministry, as well as plans of laying off officers of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Defense Ministry's 12th Directorate who are responsible for safe storage and transportation of nuclear weapons. Partners in the Global Partnership program should help Russia in retraining and relocating the reduced personnel and in paying pensions to people above the retirement age.
About 20 percent of workers related to nuclear weapons will reach the retirement age by 2005, the report reads.
Out of the 13,000 people, 10,000 will be able to retire with due financial support. Expenses can be acceptable. A research has shown that 10,000 Russian employees can retire with a moderate annual bonus, which will cost a total of USD50m, the report says.
The CSIS urges the developed countries to focus on both weapons scientists and the military experts whose experience in handling WMD systems is of great value for terrorists and countries that arouse proliferation concerns.
The report was compiled in the framework of the Strengthening the Global Partnership Program with the help of leading European, Canadian, Japanese and international research organizations. It was submitted to the G-8 nations that signed the Global Partnership agreement in the non-proliferation sphere in Kananaskis in 2002. The Russian translation of the document has been recently published by the Institute of Global Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences.