MOSCOW DELAYS NUCLEAR WEAPONS ACCORDS.

Russia has failed to pursue implementation of nuclear security and weapons inspection agreements announced at the May 1995 U.S.-Russian summit. According to U.S. government and arms control officials, Russian failure to pursue the agreements has brought cooperation on a number of important security issues to a halt. The impasse concerns the summit’s "Joint Statement on the Transparency and Irreversibility of the Process of Reducing Nuclear Weapons," which contains measures on exchanging information on the two countries’ respective nuclear stockpiles, as well as "reciprocal monitoring" of nuclear storage facilities. Neither set of measures has been fulfilled, nor have the sides made any progress in concluding a legal agreement to ensure protection of exchanged data. Russia has essentially suspended what were initially promising talks aimed at working out the various agreements. While technical complexity of the issues or bureaucratic shortcomings might explain the Russian delay, U.S. officials are said to be concerned that the difficulties may be related to recent personnel changes in the Russian government. (13)

Little Hope for Improved Japanese-Russian Relations.