ACCESSION NUMBER:280310
FILE ID:POL203
DATE:04/27/93
TITLE:DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 27 (04/27/93)
TEXT:*93042703.POL
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 27

(Russia/nuclear, Adriatic blockade)  (440)
NEWS BRIEFING -- Spokesman Bob Hall discussed the following topics:
NUCLEAR WEAPONS STORAGE CONTAINERS DEVELOPED
U.S. and Russian technicians jointly have developed special containers
for storing nuclear weapons material from Russian missile warheads being
dismantled under treaty commitments, Hall announced.

The United States will provide up to $50 million for the project, which will
provide a first contingent of 10,000 containers by December 1995, he said.

An additional $15 million in U.S. assistance will be spent on a facility to
store the weapons-grade nuclear material taken from the warheads, he told
reporters.

The Defense Department April 26 began delivering new protective armor
blankets to Russia designed to protect workers from radiation during the
dismantling and transportation of the warheads.  It delivered 684 of the
2,500 blankets expected to be sent to Moscow in four shipments, according
to a Defense Department statement.

The blankets and storage help are part of a series of ongoing U.S.-Russian
projects costing $155 million voted by Congress and designed to assist the
former Soviet Union dismantle nuclear weapons and prevent proliferation of
nuclear weapons, material and technology, the statement said.

Other parts of the assistance program include outlays of $20 million to
develop modifications that will enhance the safety and security of railway
cars used to transport the radioactive material.  The first of 115 such
cars will be shipped to Russia this summer, the Defense Department said.

The United States also will provide emergency response equipment and
training, and assistance in developing a plan to destroy the Russian
chemical weapons stockpile, the Defense Department said.

NAVAL RING IN ADRIATIC TIGHTER UNDER U.N. ORDERS
The more stringent economic sanctions recently imposed on
Serbia-Montenegro by U.N. Security Council resolutions simplifies the
ongoing patrol by U.S. naval vessels in the Adriatic Sea, the spokesman
told reporters.

Previously, merchant vessels were stopped only when they were believed to be
violating the embargo by carrying war materials.  Now, said Hall, the mere
entry into territorial waters of the former Yugoslavia puts a ship in
violation of U.N. sanctions.
1
Since the naval embargo began last November, 9,000 ships have been halted
and 755 have been boarded, inspected or diverted to ports for further
inspection, he said.

The U.S. Navy has the attack aircraft carrier Roosevelt, two cruisers, one
frigate, and one non-combat vessel in the Adriatic.  Nearby in the
Mediterranean are as many as 20 other American naval vessels, he said.

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