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United Kingdom Considering Expanding Russian Nuclear Submarine Dismantlement Aid By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The United Kingdom is considering expanding its assistance to Russian nuclear submarine dismantlement efforts, a British Department of Industry and Trade official told Global Security Newswire last week. The United Kingdom has already agreed to provide Russia with more than $20 million to aid in the dismantlement of two Oscar-class submarines, according to Steve Truswell, assistant director of the department’s Northwest Russia projects. The project is being conducted at a northeastern Russian shipyard and is expected to be completed later this year, Truswell said in a written statement. British funding for the dismantlement of the two submarines is part of the United Kingdom’s $750 million pledge to the Group of Eight’s Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Under the effort, initiated in 2002, G-8 members agreed to pledge $20 billion over 10 years to help fund nonproliferation projects, primarily in Russia. The United Kingdom is considering additional submarine dismantlement projects and plans to establish a dismantlement rate of as many as two submarines per year, Truswell said. Such additional projects are estimated to cost about additional $7 million per year “depending on the circumstances [and] specifics,” he said in an e-mail message. Last week, the Russian news agency Interfax reported British and Russian officials in Moscow earlier this month discussed a proposal for London to help fund the dismantlement of a Victor-class nuclear submarine and to help clean up a former Russian naval base. Interfax incorrectly reported, though, that the United Kingdom had agreed to provide Russia with almost $4 billion for Russian nuclear submarine dismantlement efforts (see GSN, April 7).
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