Russian Defense Ministry to Control Nuclear Complex

As part of an ongoing governmental restructuring, the Russian Defense Ministry will now have full control over the country’s nuclear defense complex, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 4).

The Russian Defense Ministry will be responsible for nuclear security issues, the development and manufacture of nuclear weapons and oversight of the Russian nuclear test site on the Novaya Zemlya islands, according to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov (RTR Russia TV/BBC Monitoring, Aug. 9).

Meanwhile, Ivanov said yesterday that NATO inspectors would not be allowed to visit Russian nuclear weapons sites.

“We have never allowed them to inspect our nuclear sites or nuclear warheads, and we never will,” he was quoted by Interfax as saying (Agence France-Presse, Aug. 9).

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