MOSCOW — This month, shortly after Ukraine's pro-Western president was sworn in, the nation's prosecutor-general launched an inquiry into reports that up to 20 nuclear-capable cruise missiles intended for transfer to Russia were instead sold to other countries, including Iran and China.
The complaint filed by Ukrainian legislator Hrihory Omelchenko claims that in 2000, Iran received six of the Kh-55 missiles, which have a range of 1,800 miles and are capable of carrying a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead at altitudes too low to be detected by radar.
Omelchenko alleges that a private Russian arms broker and officials in Ukraine's state-owned arms export agency and security services were behind the deal. The reports caused a storm in the Russian press, not least because the Russian Defense Ministry, in whose name the export licenses were reportedly signed, never publicly reported failure to take delivery of the 20 missiles.
In fact, Russia's government has denied any knowledge of the transaction, and there have been no allegations that it was involved in the deal. At least one analyst says he thinks initial reports of the deal are "full of holes."
But the continuing vulnerability of Russia and other former Soviet states to inadvertent loss of weapons and nuclear material is one of many reasons why nonproliferation will be near the top of the agenda when President Bush meets Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Thursday.
"We attach a high priority to a number of issues; perhaps the top of the list is the nonproliferation ... agenda, both in terms of strengthening or establishing efforts to complete securing and dismantling of nuclear [materials], as well as strengthening our joint efforts to prevent weapons of mass destruction from getting into the hands of terrorists," a senior U.S. diplomat said in a pre-summit briefing last week.
With mounting U.S. concerns that Iran could convert its nuclear power production program into weapons development, Russia announced last week that it expected to sign a final protocol this weekend on handling spent fuel, providing additional protections that would clear the way for the start-up of an $800-million nuclear power plant that Russia is building in southern Iran.
"Iran's latest steps convince us that Iran has no intention to make nuclear weapons, which means that we will continue cooperation in all areas, including the nuclear energy field," Putin said Friday.
