Ukraine in final phase of nuclear disarmament (10/04/98)

Ukraine in final phase of nuclear disarmament

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

PERVOMAISK, Ukraine - The town of Pervomaisk, near the seafront city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, is surrounded by gently rolling fields that produce the grain and sugar beet that once made the country the agricultural center of the Soviet Union.

Until recently, a different sort of seed was buried alongside the fields in the same rich black soil: 30-meter-long SS-24 nuclear missiles pointed at Western Europe and the United States - a few of which could have destroyed entire metropolia had they ever been ordered out of their protective silos; ultimately they could have sowed the destruction of humankind.

Today the missiles are being uprooted and dismantled as Ukraine moves into its final phase of nuclear disarmament.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the U.S. has spurred an effort to remove nuclear weapons stockpiles from the countries of the newly independent states. In January 1994, in a trilateral agreement with the U.S. and Russia, Ukraine agreed to rid itself of the 176 nuclear warheads inherited from the defunct Soviet Union in return for nuclear reactor fuel from Russia and financial and technical support from the U.S.

The warheads came off the missiles in 1996. Today the rockets are being removed, the silos destroyed and the land returned to its earlier, natural state. Financing for the effort comes entirely from the United States through the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, also known as the Nunn-Lugar program, named for Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar who sponsored the program in the U.S. Senate.

The SS-24, and the older generation SS-19 missile, which had less firepower, were buried in two locations in Ukraine: outside the town of Pervomaisk here in southern Ukraine and near the city of Khmelnytsky in central-western Ukraine. After Ukraine declared independence in 1991 the nuclear rockets came under the control of Ukraine's 43rd Rocket Army, which today is overseeing their dismantlement.

The removal of 46 SS-24 missiles, the largest and most lethal in the former Soviet arsenal, is the second phase of the effort to eliminate Ukraine's nuclear arsenal, which is scheduled for completion by December 2002. The second phase began last month, after the last of 130 SS-19 nuclear missiles had been removed and disassembled. Also just beginning is the phase-out of Ukraine's strategic bombers and cruise missile arsenal.

Thus far, two SS-24 missiles have been removed from their silos and sent for dismantling. On September 29, the second uprooting was witnessed by U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction Dr. Edward Warner. Col. Gen. Volodymyr Mikhtiuk, commander of the 43rd Rocket Army, escorted Dr. Warner and a U.S. Defense Department delegation to watch the removal of an SS-24 rocket, followed by the destruction of a silo site.

Afterwards, both men expressed their overall satisfaction with the program. Dr. Warner credited close cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in making the effort a success thus far. "All of this has been possible because of the extremely successful cooperation between the armed forces of Ukraine and the United States and U.S. contractors, as well as with a whole slew of Ukrainian subcontractors," said Dr. Warner.

After Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council officially petitioned the U.S. in May 1997 for assistance in proceeding with SS-24 removal, the Defense Department Cooperative Threat Reduction Office was tasked with developing a plan and finding a prime contractor to oversee the project. In September 1997 Bechtel Corp., the world's largest international construction company, was awarded the project. Bechtel has shown its confidence in the technological expertise of Ukrainians by subcontracting much of the work to domestic construction firms.

An unnamed Bechtel worker told a Ukrainian television crew at the Pervomaisk site that without the support of local subcontractors the work would have been much more difficult. "I am pleased to be working with Ukrainians with such a high degree of technical expertise," said the worker.

The procedure for the elimination of the missiles began with the removal of the warhead, which was completed in all 176 nuclear missiles on Ukraine's soil by July 1996.

Today the procedure continues in a step-by-step process. After each missile is removed from combat duty, its instrumentation is disassembled. The projectile then is raised from its silo into a huge tube that has been elevated from a truck bed and sits vertically over the silo hole. After the 15 minutes it takes to lift the missile into the protective shell, the tube is hydraulically lowered back onto the truck bed.

After removal from the launch silo the missiles are transferred to railroad cars and taken to special liquidation sites, where the liquid propellant is removed, after which they are transferred again to a final site for elimination. Col. Gen. Mikhtiuk explained that Ukraine has had problems with financing the technology for reprocessing rocket fuel for commercial use and with the recycling of the missile hulls. However, he asserted that the entire process would be completed before the program is done.

After the missiles are gone, the launch silos and launch control centers are disassembled and prepared for destruction, which takes approximately 30 to 36 days. The holes are then set with explosives to destroy the first six meters of the launch silo.

In the final stage of the elimination effort, the sites are restored to their natural contours and the debris is carried away.

According to Assistant Secretary of Defense Warner, the deactivation of each site, including removal of the missiles and destruction of the launch silo, costs U.S. taxpayers about $1 million each, which includes U.S. equipment and construction vehicles.

Although the removal of the rockets and the destruction of the silos has been proceeding smoothly and with little protest from Ukrainians, that does not mean that there is anything near unanimity in Ukraine that giving up the nuclear warheads was the right thing for this country to do. Politicians on the left and the right, including Communist leader Petro Symonenko and Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil, have repeatedly questioned the 1994 decision by Ukraine's first president, Leonid Kravchuk, to relinquish its nuclear status.

Many of Ukraine's citizens also feel there is no good justification for throwing away the "nuclear card" that Ukraine could have used in international relations.

The move, however, opened up relations with the United States and helped Ukraine negotiate a strategic partnership with Washington, which has allowed Kyiv to receive billions of dollars in financial aid.

Col. Gen. Mikhtiuk, while addressing a group of journalists during the visit of the Defense Department delegation, took pains to squelch a persistent rumor that Ukraine is dismantling the sites in roughshod manner. "I would like to emphasize that we don't just blast away the silos and then leave. These rumors are unfounded and untrue," he said.

The press conference was held at one completed restoration site, where the silo hole had been capped, the debris removed and the land graded.

The general also expressed frustration at a contract requirement that the land should be restored to a certain biological level. "Why must Ukraine expend money and effort when no such requirements exist in the United States [for their nuclear reduction program]?" asked Col. Gen. Mikhtiuk.

The 43rd Rocket Army, its mission nearing completion, is scheduled to be decommissioned in full sometime after 2002. Already many of its officers are either opting for retirement or being forced to go that route, which has caused more problems.

To head off a foreseen lack of housing for discharged officers and enlisted men, the United States agreed to build 866 apartment units to house military personnel demobilized in connection with the elimination of strategic nuclear weapons, which it completed in 1996.

Although the 43rd Rocket Army promised its officers those private quarters, some officers say those promises have been broken.

Three former officers of the 43rd Rocket Army, who were discharged during the last few months, told The Weekly they are still awaiting their apartments, and have been told by their former superiors that they should not expect anything.

"We have been told that some day we will get an apartment, but nobody will give us a guarantee," said Valerii Baranovych, who had been a lieutenant colonel before his discharge in July.

Mr. Baranovych's situation, as well as that of his two colleagues, Oleksander Kuzmych, a former major, and Volodymyr Havlitsky, a former lieutenant colonel, is complicated by the fact that the strategic nuclear forces under which they served initially were not under the command of the 43rd Rocket Army, but under a joint Russian-Ukrainian command.

"The commander [of the 43rd Army] would not see us. His assistant said we were not a part of their command," explained Mr. Kuzmych. "But he underscored that we were not being refused an apartment."

Although a press spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said that "the soldiers and officers of the 43rd Army probably have the best terms and treatment as far as their return to civilian life," the 43rd Army commander, Col. Gen. Mikhtiuk, acknowledged that problems exist with the distribution of living accommodations. "Unfortunately, not all officers of the 43rd Army have received the apartments they were promised," said the general.

"But if you compare the number of so-called homeless officers at the time the program started to the number that exist today, you will see that the numbers are way down," he added.

He explained that the Ministry of Defense purchased nearly 100 apartment units for officers just this past year.

But, according to the three ex-officers of the 43rd Rocket Army, who live with their families in a "closed" military city outside of Kyiv that only existed to be a transfer point for new or outdated rocketry, the promise of an apartment in the future holds little value at the moment, especially because they have no opportunity to work or money to purchase their own housing.

"We were on the lists; we were shown the lists. We want to know what happened," said Mr. Baranovych. "Who received the apartments we were promised?" he asked.

An information official at the United States Embassy in Ukraine, who acknowledged that the Embassy is aware of the complaints by the three ex-officers, said that Ukraine's Ministry of Defense holds ultimate responsibility for distribution of the apartments, although the U.S. checked distribution procedures for the 866 U.S.-built units after construction was completed. The official said that the U.S. retains the right by agreement to audit and examine the results of the program. The first audit is scheduled for 1999.

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