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.
"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."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48465-2005Feb23.html
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