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Essential that Russia and the West co-operate on nuclear security

Why the US should keep cooperating with Russia on nuclear security Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsSiegfried S. HeckerPeter E. Davis “…….In contrast to Moscow’s pronouncements, Russia’s nuclear specialists recognize that continued cooperation is needed. Nuclear safety and nuclear security are never-ending jobs that require cooperation and sharing of best practices. Russia’s experts do not want to return to nuclear isolation because they believe it led to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and to the nuclear security crisis following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Now, the crisis in Ukraine has not only put nuclear cooperation between the United States and Russia on the back burner, but Washington appears to be erecting its own roadblocks that threaten to irreparably damage such cooperation. The House Armed Services Committee recently approved legislation that would put nuclear security cooperation with Russia on hold. While the White House has opposed the committee’s efforts to limit cooperation, the Energy Department has issued its own restrictions on scientific interchanges as part of the US sanctions regime against Russia.

It is clearly in Moscow and Washington’s common interest to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and global nuclear terrorism. Keeping all nuclear materials in control of governments and erecting effective barriers to nuclear trafficking requires cooperation. It is in their common interest to make further arms reductions, rather than return to the arms race era and nuclear testing. ……..

These are precisely the objectives the Obama administration had been promoting with Russia and around the world, although Moscow has become a reluctant partner. Now, Washington appears willing to sacrifice nuclear cooperation in the short term in order to sanction Russia for its actions in Ukraine. But Washington does not have to choose between the two. It should be able to pressure Moscow on Ukraine, while still cooperating on nuclear issues.

Progress on the nuclear front requires good working relationships between Russian and American scientists. These relationships, already strongly opposed by Russia’s security services, cannot be turned off and on at will. They must be nurtured and maintained over time to foster the cooperation needed to reduce the nuclear dangers. Relationships are difficult to rebuild once they have been cut off.  In addition, curtailing cooperation now will threaten the gains that have been made over the past 20 years and jeopardize Washington’s enormous investment in cooperative threat reduction………

As the United States and the European Union take short-term measures to restrain Russia’s actions in Ukraine, they should not sacrifice the hard-earned gains made to stabilize the nuclear threats that arose after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some forms of nuclear cooperation, especially on arms control and nonproliferation, were supported even during the darkest days of the Cold War, because the alternatives proved unacceptable to both sides. With the Cold War’s end, nuclear cooperation flourished. Washington should foster continued cooperation to meet our shared challenges, rather than allowing it to be held hostage to the Ukrainian crisis. Over the past 20-plus years, when working with our Russian colleagues, we have all found that at times we must move beyond political disagreements, such as the political situation in Ukraine, to work together to advance the cause of nuclear security. http://thebulletin.org/why-us-should-keep-cooperating-russia-nuclear-security7207

June 2, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general