June 1996
Background Briefing
Attributable To:
Senior Defense Officials
Subject: Secretary
of Defense Trip to Ukraine
Mr. Bacon: This
is a background briefing by senior defense officials. First we'll start
with a discussion of the Secretary's trip to Ukraine. Two elements --
a military exercise in Lviv, and then going to Pervomaysk to watch the
last stage of the dismantling of the Ukrainian missile fields. Then
we'll brief on the other part of the trip, the NATO-related part of
the trip. That briefer isn't here yet, but we hope he'll come before
we reach him. Obviously, this is attributable to Senior Defense Officials,
but we've got ________ here, and General _____________ will be the briefers
in their respective areas.
Briefer: I'd just
like to walk you through the Secretary's visit to Ukraine next week,
a two day trip, its central events and its central purpose.
This will be Secretary
Perry's fifth trip to Ukraine -- his fourth to Pervomaysk, making it
one of his most visited, probably the most visited point on earth by
Secretary Perry.
You're all familiar
with the importance of Ukraine to us and to our security. Its centrality
to Europe, size and geography, population of France, breadbasket of
Soviet Union, missile maker of the Soviet Union. It was here, not in
Russia, that the SS-24, the SS-18, the two largest, most modern, most
fearsome of the USSR's ICBMs were built. This is a state... this is
very important for the purpose of our visit, this is a state that began
its life a few years ago when the USSR ended, with 2,500 tactical nuclear
weapons on its territory, and 1,900 strategic nuclear weapons.
The tactical nuclear
weapons were removed in the first year of Ukraine's life, but at the
beginning of Dr. Perry's time here in the Pentagon, there were 1,900
strategic nuclear warheads on Ukrainian territory. Let me just remind
you that had Ukraine decided to retain those nuclear warheads on its
territory, that would make Ukraine the third most powerful nuclear nation
on earth -- after the United States and Russia, and before the other
declared nuclear powers -- China, United Kingdom and France, which have
just a fraction of what Ukraine had on its territory.
In early 1994,
the United States, and Ukraine signed the so-called Trilateral Statement
in which Ukraine agreed to relinquish the nuclear weapons left by the
USSR on its territory, and allow them to be transported back to Russia
for dismantlement. In return for, first, security assurances from the
United States, the UK, and Russia. Second, compensation for the value
of the highly enriched uranium in the strategic warheads. That compensation
to take the form of fuel rods for Ukraine's nuclear power reactors.
In other words, the warheads containing the HEU were to go out of Ukraine,
and back into Ukraine would come nuclear fuel rods containing the same
amount of uranium, but blended down to reactor fuel. And compensation
for the tactical warheads that had earlier been removed in the form
of debt relief for Ukraine's substantial energy debt to Russia. So just
to take it from the top again, that was security assurances, then compensation,
and the third thing that Ukraine was promised was assistance through
the Nunn/Lugar program with carrying out the elimination of the
nuclear-related facilities and infrastructure on Ukrainian territory.
Those were the terms of the Trilateral Statement which was negotiated
in January 1994, and signed by President Clinton, President Yeltsin,
and then President Krabchuk of Ukraine.
The chief negotiator
on the Ukrainian side in that agreement was now Minister of Defense
Shmarov, who will be Dr. Perry's host, and whom you'll see if you accompany
us.
The Trilateral
Statement called for all the nuclear weapons to be removed from Ukraine
this year, by this year, and in a very short time from now they all
will be removed. That is one of the reasons for Dr. Perry's visit.
Let me dwell on
this theme for a moment, the denuclearization theme. The basic deal
that Ukraine made with the world community and with us was that they
would be better off without nuclear weapons and with the support of
the international community -- support for their security, support for
their sovereignty, territorial integrity, economic reform, political
reform. Better off without nuclear weapons and the support of the international
community than with nuclear weapons and without the support of the international
community. Many other states have made that choice in the past, and
this was an historic one for Ukraine. The United States has done its
part to support Ukraine as a new state, it's security and territorial
integrity. I'll just mention the visits by President Clinton there,
the numerous Secretary of Defense visits I mentioned before, our bilateral
and multilateral defense relationships with the Ukrainian Ministry of
Defense -- I'll say more about them shortly, that's another important
theme of the visit -- and the integration of Ukraine into international
organizations and regimes. For example, integrating the Ukrainian space
industry, which is a very sophisticated one, as I already mentioned,
into the world civil space market. We've worked very had to do that
as well.
This trip illustrates
the basic bargain, if you like, that Ukraine struck a few years ago
in the activities that Secretary Perry will be carrying out. The first
day he will participate, as will U.S. forces, in a major ground forces
exercise -- I'll describe that in a moment; and the second day he will
participate in some events related to denuclearization. That juxtaposition
is significant, because the first day speaks to Ukraine's future security
-- non-nuclear, but very strong and well supported by the United States
and Ukraine's neighbors; and the second day represents the soon-to-be
completed process of denuclearization. Those two things go together.
They're like two sides of the same coin. Ukraine would not have been
willing to relinquish nuclear weapons on its territory were it not for
the tangible evidence on the U.S. side of concern for their security,
and also tangible help by the United States to carry out this task.
So those are the
main themes, and you'll see them illustrated as I walk through the two
days.
Day one, we arrive
at Kiev and then we will go to Lviv in western Ukraine for a major multilateral
ground forces exercise in the spirit of the Partnership for Peace. This
will be the first multilateral Partnership for Peace exercise on the
territory of the former Soviet Union, and is a tribute to the expansion
and strength of the Partnership for Peace, that this is being done.
There will be a
large Ukrainian unit, but the second largest unit to participate in
the exercise will be the U.S. unit -- about 145 troops. There will also
be forces there from, get this, this is really historic -- Russia, Poland,
Ukraine, United States, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania,
Moldova, Slovakia, Bulgaria. In other words, all of Ukraine's neighbors.
There will be observers from other Partnership for Peace and NATO countries
-- the UK, Germany, Greece, France, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Turkey,
Italy, and Norway.
Q: Is Russia the
only one that hasn't done a PFP exercise among those that are participating?
Are some of the others a first time...
A: No, some of
the others have not either hosted a major multilateral PFP exercise
like this. This shows Ukraine's leadership in the Partnership for Peace,
number one, which is important; it shows Ukraine's regional role. Ukraine
organized this. They're the host, they put the whole exercise together,
they're the ones who got the Russians to participate, the Americans
to participate, the Poles to participate. They put the whole thing together.
Q: You said this
is a term that's often used by NATO, in the spirit of Partnership for
Peace. This is not an official PFP exercise?
A: It is a so-called
in the spirit of the Partnership for Peace. That is actually, Charlie,
a distinction without a lot of meaning. The only reason that this exercise
is in the spirit of Partnership for Peace and not a Partnership for
Peace exercise is that by the time all the participants had... By the
time Ukraine had decided to hold this exercise, recruited all the participants,
and put the whole exercise together, it was just past the planning deadline
for one year's PFP planning cycle, so it's sort of an administrative
difference. So that's not a material difference. We do use the phrase
in the spirit of Partnership for Peace, but it's basically a Partnership
for Peace exercise.
Q: So Russia has
not yet participated officially in a Partnership for Peace exercise.
A: No, that's not
true. Russia has participated in a number of Partnership for Peace exercises
and still does, and has a pretty strong program this year. If you'd
like, I can get you a list of exercises Russia has participated in.
But they have.
I think what's
significant about this exercise is the size and the... This is a real
serious exercise. It's large. It's the first ever on the territory of
the former Soviet Union, large multilateral PFP exercise. It shows Ukraine's
regional leadership, and has really an amazing cast of characters in
it, I think. Their first ever such PFP exercise.
Our being there
shows both our support for the Partnership for Peace, which as you know,
Dr. Perry's been strongly involved in; but also our support for Ukraine
itself -- its sovereignty, its security. And this is also representative
of our defense relationship with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Dr. Perry and Minister Shmarov are good friends, and they have, going
right back to the trilateral days, they've done a lot together. One
of the things they've done is build very strong bilateral ties. We have
a strong relationship with the bilateral MOD. This exercise is called
PEACEKEEPER '96. If you remember PEACEKEEPER '94, and some of you went
to PEACEKEEPER '94 with Dr. Perry, PEACEKEEPER '94 was a bilateral exercise
-- just U.S. and Ukraine. It was at that bilateral exercise that there
were some Polish observers and some other foreign observers, and Shmarov
and Perry began talking, and Shmarov said why don't we do this again
next year, but instead of it just being the two of us, why don't we
invite some other states from the region as well, and that's what Shmarov
did and that's what led to PEACEKEEPER '96.
That's day one
and that illustrates, if you like, the future of a free and independent
Ukraine capable of taking care of its own security, but at peace with
all its neighbors and integrated into the Partnership for Peace.
Day two is the
denuclearization-related day. On that day we go first to Silo 110. Those
of you who were with us in January remember Silo 110. I'll just show
you this picture. This will be, when we're done this trip we will add
a fourth panel to this chart that many of you have seen many times.
This is Dr. Perry's first visit to Ukraine in March 1994 -- shortly
after the Trilateral Statement was signed. This is an SS-18 silo with
its warheads removed. We were just beginning the Nunn/Lugar program
and providing assistance to help these warheads be removed.
The next year we
went back, this is an SS-19, it turns out, the other kind of ICBM in
Ukraine, and at that time we were taking this missile out, draining
its fuel into containers that we, again, provided through the Nunn/Lugar
program, taking it to a facility in Nieper Petrovsk which we built,
where it would be destroyed and eliminated.
Then this January
Dr. Perry went back again, and this is Silo 110. We blew it up.
Between January
and now, this site at Silo 110 had all the rubble and so forth removed,
specialized equipment from around the silo, the multiple security fences,
the guard posts and everything eliminated, the silo filled in, the whole
site graded, and planted with the local crop, which turns out to be
sunflowers. So you will see sunflower seedlings over this site where
you saw a missile silo blown up in January. That will be our first stop,
and that will be the fourth and last picture in this series that goes
from SS-24s with warheads to farmland. This also, by the way, illustrates
that we've carried through on another part of the Trilateral Statement.
The first day illustrates the security assurance we gave Ukraine. We
care about your security and we'll stick with you. The other commitment
we made was to help them with this task. These are American contractors
at work, working with the Ukrainian authorities there to accomplish
this task. You'll see them in action.
We're very attentive,
incidentally, to the environmental aspects of this project. I mentioned
this because it will surely come up with the local press there, just
as when we've eliminated our own missile silos. And you'll recall a
Ukrainian Minister of Defense has done that. A Ukrainian Minister of
Defense, not this one but his predecessor, blew up an American silo.
We are applying with the Ukrainians a similar environmental remediation
techniques in Ukraine to the ones in the United States. That's important,
because it's important to the local communities.
The second thing
we'll do on day two... I'm sorry. While we're there, in addition to
planting a few more sunflowers, the Ministers will do, a couple of things
on this first stop on day two.
First, Minister
Grachev of Russia will be there. He will have been at Lviv as well,
as will a number of other Ministers of Defense, for example of Poland.
And Grachev, not the other Ministers, but Grachev will also be present
at these events on day two.
The other interesting
thing that will happen at this Silo 110 site is that Secretary Perry will
sign the agreements with Minister Shmarov for this year's allotment of
Nunn/Lugar assistance to Ukraine, which is about $43 million and
which brings Ukraine's total Nunn/Lugar program to about $400 million.
That's a lot of activity throughout Ukraine. A number of different projects
-- not just silos, but a number of other related projects. So we will
both see Nunn/Lugar at work, and we will inaugurate the next phase
of Nunn/Lugar. Once again, keeping our promise in the Trilateral
Agreement, just as Ukraine is keeping its promise and Russia is keeping
its promise.
The next place
we'll go is a place, unfortunately, you all as the press will not be
able to go to. You will helicopter nearby, but we're not able to take
you inside the fence. That is to a nuclear weapons storage site which
will be empty. It is the divisional storage site for nuclear weapons
for the ICBM division at Pervomaysk. It's being decommissioned. But
Dr. Perry will go in there and observe that the storage site is empty.
Third, we will
go to the town of Pervomaysk where we will visit a housing project also
paid for by Nunn/Lugar. Remember, this is a housing project which
is not just a housing project, but also a defense conversion project.
It's a factory that used to make naval weapons, which was converted
to make housing. Then the first set of houses were erected in Pervomaysk.
The people who live in those houses are the officers who are being demobilized.
Q: So, they're
living there all right?
A: Yes, and we
hope that Dr. Perry will have the time to visit in the homes of some
of these officers. In fact it may even be the case that we can find
an officer associated Silo 110 who is living there now.
But the point is
that even as day one illustrates that there is security for Ukraine
after it has removed nuclear weapons from its territory, it was important
that we also illustrate to the community of Pervomaysk that there was
a future for them and its citizens after this base was closed, and you
know how hard base closing is in any country. It has its pains in Pervomaysk.
This was a sign on our part that we were attentive to and willing to
participate in, in however small a manner, the adjustments that the
Pervomaysk region went through in closing this base, by providing some
housing for some of the officers.
The housing complex
has about 261 sites, 261 houses -- 245 of those will be complete when
you arrive. About 125 occupied. They'll all be done by the end of this
summer. We build the houses, Ukraine provides the infrastructure.
That is the trip,
day one, at Lviv; day two, the denuclearization events. As people say
in that part of the world, it's no accident that these two days are
juxtaposed.
Q: There seems
to be some equivocation on exactly when they'll get rid of their nuclear
weapons. It was hoped they would be non-nuclear by the time that Dr.
Perry arrived, and apparently that will not happen. Can you give us
some figures on how many warheads they have left?
A: They have shipped
out already from Ukraine the great majority of the warheads. There are
some remaining. They're working hard to ship them out as soon as possible,
and we expect them to be out in the shortest possible time.
Q: Are there any
NoDong missiles at Pervomaysk?
A: No.
Q: Are all the
missiles out of silos yet at Pervomaysk, or they're not?
A: All the SS-19
missiles have now been decommissioned. The SS-24s are still sitting...
Q: (inaudible)
A: They're in various
stages of defueling, pulled out of their silos, lying on their sides
in Nieper Petrovsk, but not standing alert. Nor are any of the SS-24s
standing alert. All of them have their warheads demated, so none is
a threat to the United States any more.
Ukraine has not
decided yet what to do with the SS-24 missiles, the missiles themselves.
Ukraine is attracted to the idea of using them for something like space
launch, and we've been discussing that with them and we're prepared
to assist them through the Nunn/Lugar program in whatever way
they wish to dispose of those SS-24s, but it's their decision what use
they want to make of them. The SS-19s are simply going to get chopped
up.
Q: How many of
each?
A: There are 130
SS-19s. Those carried six warheads each. There were 46 SS-24s, they
carried 10 warheads each. And if you add that up, you'll get 1,240 ICBM
warheads. I told you 1,900, remember, the total number? That's because
there are about 700 cruise missiles that were associated with the nuclear
bomber force that was based on Ukrainian territory. Those...
Q: What's their
status?
A: They are being
shipped out also, those warheads. Most of them are out.
Q: Is it possible
that all the warheads will be gone, coinciding with Perry's presence?
A: It's possible.
Of course that would be very desirable. But we, in any event, expect
them to be out in the shortest possible time. That will be, to my way
of thinking, one of the most amazing cases in non-proliferation history
and a great tribute to Ukraine and its leaders -- first Krabchuk and
then Kujma. They've done something truly historic and really deserve
the congratulations and support of everybody in the world.
Q: The warheads
that remain are presumably in a central storage site, or are they in...
A: The remaining
ones are at a couple of sites in Ukraine, from which they are removed.
Q: U.S. assistance
in the storage...
A: Yes, United
States assistance has been provided both to Ukraine in the warhead movement,
as well as missile and silo elimination. And also to Russia. We have
a warhead protection, control and accounting cooperation program with
the Russian Ministry of Defense, also Nunn/Lugar, that provides
them upgrades to these trains that they carry warheads in to make the
trains safer against a terrorist incident or an accident, and also to
provide them the special containers to put the warheads in, so that
they, if there were an accident on the train or somebody fired something
at the train there wouldn't be any possibility of the warheads being
hit in any way. We have a number of programs like that to increase the
safety and security of warheads during transport.
Q: These 130 SS-19s
and the 46 24's, they were not all at Pervomaysk right?
A: No, there were
two ICBM divisions. Pervomaysk and Khmelnitsky. That's also called,
by the way, Drajnia. If you go back to Soviet Military Power or something,
you'll find it called Drajnia.
I should mention,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Susan Cook, back there, it is
her office, the Threat Reduction Policy Office, that runs Nunn/Lugar
and runs all our arms control efforts, and it is she and her office
that has brought this about.
Q: Both of these
bases have all been stood down now.
A: That's correct.
And Charlie, when we went here that first year, I don't know if you
were along that time. Remember, we went down in the launch control facility
and there was a map on the wall. Dr. Perry's frequently described this.
It was a map, there were little lights corresponding to the targets,
a map of the United States. It was done Rand McNally fashion. Down in
the lower left was Alaska and Hawaii, put in so the whole thing put
into a rectangle. And two very serious looking characters sitting there,
very professional looking young launch officers. Thirty meters under
ground, this capsule. They had two bunks and a samovar, and they're
sitting there at their console, and they were in there. A few of the
lights were off at that time, corresponding to the very early stages
of demating these warheads, but now all the lights would be out. That's
1,900 warheads designed for us that are now, two and a half years later,
not threatening to the United States, and in fact the country on whose
territory they are is a good friend of ours.
Q: One small question
about the peacekeeping exercise. Do you know what exactly Perry's going
to see when he's there?
A: When he first
arrives there will be an opening ceremony, which typically the Ministers
of Defense are on a reviewing stand and the soldiers parade by in formation.
Then he will go to the various exercise areas at which the troops are
actually training, and they may be, for example manning a checkpoint
or something like that, and training to do that. This has a peacekeeping
aspect, it has a search and rescue aspect, it has an emergency preparedness
aspect, and there is a live fire area. This is serious stuff. And in
these exercises, the troops all training to the same regimen for each
specific military task. In advance, their commanders work out a common
doctrine. What do you do if you're manning a checkpoint, for example,
at a border area and a truck pulls up and you think it may be a truck
filled with explosives or something like that. What's your standard
way of handling that.
Q: All ground operations?
A: These are all
ground forces, right. This is a big training area in western Ukraine.
I should mention,
by the way, that we have, through the Warsaw Initiative, which is one
of the ways we fund Partnership for Peace activities, have provided
funds to a number of the participants, including Ukraine, to make this
exercise possible. For example, we made some upgrades to the Lviv training
area itself, just so it could handle a large number of people who will
be coming there at this time.
Q: How many troops
will be involved?
A: About 700 Ukrainian
troops, 150 American troops, and 50 troops from each of nine other participating
countries which were Russia, Poland, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary,
Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Bulgaria. Then there are a bunch of observers
as well, I mentioned earlier -- ten or so observers.
Q: What dates?
A: 3 and 4 June.
Q: The exercise
itself is just those two days?
A: No, the exercise
goes, I believe, from the 1st to the 11th. The exercise goes on for
quite some time. It's just getting started. This is the opening ceremony
on the 3rd, and the troops will be there for a couple of weeks. Shali
will be going also to Lviv several days after the Secretary.
At this point,
I'll leave you and turn you over to the next stage, which is we go off
to Munich and Garmisch. I'll put you in the able hands of a friend and
colleague, also unnamed defense official.
Briefer 2: I'll
try to make this shorter and less interesting.
The final two stops
on the trip will include, first of all, a flight into Munich followed
by transport down to Garmisch, Germany, to the Marshall Center where
the Secretary will meet both with students and staff on the first day,
and make an address to the graduating class, the fourth graduating class
from the Marshall Center on the second day.
The Secretary has,
as many of you probably know, met with every Marshall Center class either
here in Washington or in Garmisch. This will be, as I said, I think
the fourth graduating class. The total number of graduates from the
long course will number about 300 at the time this class graduates.
They go back off to their various countries after their course there,
and to various high level positions in defense establishments and throughout
government.
The Secretary has
always made it a point to talk to them when they've come to Washington,
and has gone to Garmisch whenever he could, to address them there.
In addition to
the time he spends with both the students and the staff in Garmisch,
he will have a dinner with senior military commanders from Europe as
he normally does when he travels there. He takes that opportunity to
discuss in an informal atmosphere issues which are on their minds.
After spending
one night in Garmisch, we will then proceed to Lisbon, Portugal where
the Secretary will again spend one night... This is a reciprocal visit.
He was invited by the Minister of Defense of Portugal, Minister Vintorino,
to visit Portugal during Minister Vintorino's visit to the United States
earlier this year. It will be his first official visit to Portugal as
Secretary of Defense, although Dr. White was in Portugal earlier this
year.
In addition to
the meetings with the Minister of Defense, he will have a meeting with
the Minster of Foreign Affairs, Minister Gama, who also recently visited
Washington. Then following our meetings in Lisbon, we will go to the
Azores to Lajes Air Force Base where he will visit with both Portuguese
and U.S. military personnel who are assigned to Loges. This will be,
as far as we can tell, the first Secretary of Defense visit to Loges,
official visit, other than just a stop there, ever. As far as we know.
We will spend only about four hours on the ground there, but during
that time he will visit with U.S. forces who are stationed there with
their families, have a look at the facilities, and also spend some time
with the Portuguese military who are assigned to Loges.
Following that
stop, he will proceed back to Washington.
Q: What's the date
for the Azores?
A: The 6th.
Q: Secretary Christopher
went over last year, I believe it was last year that Loges was extended,
the agreement was extended. How long is it for? When does the new agreement...
A: The new agreement
is in effect now. I believe it's for five years, but I'm not certain
if that's the time period or not. I'll have to get back to you and confirm
that, which I will do.
Q: How many troops
are stationed there?
A: Approximately
1,200.
Q: Mostly Air Force,
right?
A: Predominantly
Air Force, yes.
Q: Does the Secretary
have any special message in his plan for his Marshall Center address?
A: I've not reviewed
the speech for his Marshall Center address. The Secretary's theme, normally,
with the Marshall Center is related to the legacy of George Marshall
and the continuation of that legacy by new and innovative means. The
Marshall Center represents one element of our efforts to try to extend
democracy in through Central Europe, an important element of it, and
I'm sure that will feature prominently in his remarks. I, as I've said
though, have not yet seen the speech.
Q: Will he be inquiring
while he's there about financial management of the center? There have
been stories and allegations about mismanagement, wasting of money,
that sort of thing. Is the Secretary concerned about it? Is he looking
into it while he's there?
A: The trip has
been scheduled since long before the series of articles was run in Stars
and Stripes. The purpose of his trip is to address the students and
the staff there. It has nothing to do with the allegations, and I do
not expect that the Secretary will ask anyone about those allegations
while he's there. They're being dealt with through the proper channels.
Q: Is that IG or
what?
A: As has been
widely reported, there have been Inspector General teams who have looked
into the allegations. Those teams have reported that in fact most of
the allegations that you refer to, financial-related allegations are
actually pretty old news and have been investigated by Inspector General
teams previously. There are no new financial allegations that I'm aware
of that he would be looking into or that he would have an IG look into.
There are continuing reviews, policy reviews of the operation at the
Marshall Center, which also were ongoing prior to the time that the
Stars and Stripes series was run. Those will continue. They include
the appointment of a Board of Visitors which has been included in the
charter from the very beginning, but now is being established. They
will probably include ongoing policy reviews beyond the framework of
the Board of Visitors as well, but again, that is part of the original
charter that those would take place. There's nothing to report from
any of those yet. There have been no new investigations launched that
I'm aware of.
Press: Thank you
very much.
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