U.S.-Russia pact targets nuclear terrorism

By Peter Baker and Walter Pincus

updated 11:01 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2005

President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to announce a package of measures today to counter the threat of nuclear terrorism, a threat highlighted in a new U.S. intelligence report warning that Russian nuclear material could still fall into terrorist hands, according to U.S. officials familiar with the accord.

Under the planned agreement, U.S. and Russian officials would accelerate long-delayed security upgrades at Russia's many poorly protected nuclear facilities, jointly develop emergency responses to a nuclear or radiological terrorist attack, and establish a program to replace highly enriched uranium in research reactors around the world to prevent it from being used for weapons, the U.S. officials said.

Although details were still being negotiated last night, the joint statement to be released at the presidential summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, could be used as a counterpoint to the rising tension in U.S.-Russian relations over Putin's crackdown on domestic dissent. Bush has promised to challenge Putin on Russia's retreat from democracy during their meeting but has also stressed his continuing friendship for the Russian president and their ability to work together on mutual security issues.

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"We're trying to demonstrate that we can make progress and move forward despite these other issues," a senior Bush administration official said. Securing Russian nuclear material remains at the top of the U.S. agenda with Moscow, the official said, and the Bratislava agreement is intended to "get better control over things to avoid the possibility that things fall into the wrong hands."

The White House declined to comment, citing ongoing talks. The officials who confirmed the pending agreement spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the joint statement before Bush.

The two sides were also working on an agreement to help stem the proliferation of shoulder-fired rockets, a particular favorite of terrorists and guerrillas. That agreement is to be signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. U.S. and Russian officials were also drafting joint statements on economic cooperation, counterterrorism, exchange programs and the fight against AIDS.

Liability dispute
But negotiators were unable to break an impasse that has held up a multibillion-dollar program to dispose of 68 tons of plutonium usable for nuclear weapons despite last-minute talks. U.S. and Russian officials rushed to London and met in Moscow in a bid to resolve a technical dispute over liability that has frozen the program, first announced by Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin in 1998 and still unrealized seven years later.

Still, some security analysts said the agreement on track for announcement today represented a significant step forward, particularly because Bush administration officials began pursuing a deal only a couple of weeks ago and Russian officials were resisting out of pique over the short time frame and the criticism of democratic setbacks. The agreement also helps Bush respond to Democrats' criticism during last year's election campaign that he has failed to do enough to secure Russian "loose nukes."

"It is a coup for him," said Rose Gottemoeller, who negotiated nuclear security issues with Russia for the Clinton administration. "If he can get Putin to agree to this, it's a very important step."

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