The former Soviet republics will transfer all tactical nuclear weapons to Russia by July 1 despite recent resistance by Ukraine, Boris Yeltsin's top defense aide said Tuesday.
Col. Gen. Pavel Grachev, speaking after a meeting with Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, said he told Cheney that by July 1 "all tactical nuclear weapons will be withdrawn" from the republics.Cheney and Grachev met privately at NATO headquarters on the eve of a first-ever conference of nearly three dozen defense chiefs from the Western alliance and their former adversaries in Eastern Europe.
"I assured Secretary Cheney that the process of transferring the weapons, despite the fact that it was suspended for some time by Ukraine, will continue," the Russian official told reporters. "I assured him, too, that it will all be seriously monitored, disposed of
or kept in depots in the proper conditions."
Grachev said he told Cheney there was no chance that any of the weapons could be stolen - "nothing of the kind."
Cheney held a series of meetings with defense chiefs from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus. There was no immediate word on the outcome of the other talks.
In advance of the meetings, Cheney had said he would insist that the former Soviet republics consolidate all nuclear weapons in the Russian republic and move ahead with the destruction of a "significant number" of warheads.
Cheney, en route to the Brussels meeting, said he wanted to use the session to follow up on Russian President Yeltsin's offer to sharply reduce the former Soviet strategic arsenal - and to discuss ways the United States can help destroy those weapons.
Cheney said he planned to quiz his counterparts from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus about the progress of the nuclear weapon consolidation, including Ukraine's stated reluctance to turn over all its weapons.
The former Soviet republics that possess nuclear weapons "have all at one time or another said they planned to become non-nuclear states and they plan to adhere to the non-proliferation treaty as non-nuclear states. I think we want to continue to encourage that basic approach," Cheney told reporters aboard his plane.
Cheney said he also intended to pursue opportunities for even more cuts in superpower nuclear arsenals.
The defense secretary said the United States has been "looking for ways" to spend the $400 million Congress has authorized to help the former Soviet republics destroy their nuclear arms, and that it could be of some use in providing storage facilities or shipping containers.