Nuclear safety summit convenes in Moscow

April 20, 1996
Web posted at: 10:35 a.m. EDT

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Meeting almost exactly 10 years after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, leaders of the world's seven wealthiest nations opened a two-day summit on nuclear safety Saturday, adopting a general declaration of closer cooperation on disarmament and safety issues.

The document signed at the morning session of the meeting of Group of Seven (G-7) leaders called for expansion of nuclear- free zones and joint monitoring of nuclear materials.

By the end of the summit, the leaders are also expected to sign documents concerning a test ban treaty.

During an afternoon session addressing member nations' concerns about safety at the nuclear plant at Chernobyl, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said that the plant would remain open unless Western nations offered his country more financial aid.

"Without that ... Ukraine cannot take the responsibility of taking the station out of use, observing all the demands of nuclear safety," said a statement outlining Kuchma's position.

But at a news conference at the close of the session, French President Jacques Chirac said that Chernobyl would be closed by the year 2000.

"The decision (to close Chernobyl) was entirely confirmed today by President Kuchma," Chirac said.

Ukraine has already been promised $3 billion in aid for closing the plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, in his remarks at the summit's opening, lambasted leaders of NATO nations for deploying U.S. nuclear weapons on the European continent.

"Russia considers it a proliferation of nuclear arms when nuclear weapons are placed on the territory of non-nuclear states," Yeltsin said.

Yeltsin's remarks reflect Russia's concern that nuclear weapons could be deployed in Eastern and Central European nations, if NATO's plans to expand into those areas proceed.

Yeltsin introduced a proposal aimed at limiting deployment of nuclear weapons to the country that owns them. Currently, only Russia and the United States have land-based nuclear weapons stationed outside their own borders.

"It is in our common interests to ensure that the nuclear weapons of al nuclear counties are also concentrated within the boundaries of their territories," he said, noting that Russia is scheduled to complete withdrawal of its nuclear weapons from Belarus and Ukraine later this year.

Related stories

• Chernobyl 10 years later: still contaminated, still poor - April 19, 1996
• Clinton arrives in Russia for nuclear summit, calls for cease-fire in Lebanon - April 18, 1996
• Nuclear test ban treaty possible this year- March 18, 1996
• Chirac ends French nuclear testing - January 29, 1996

Related site

• British American Security Information Council: An Agenda for the G-7+1 Summit

Feedback Send us your comments. Selected responses are posted daily.

| CONTENTS | SEARCH | CNN HOME PAGE | MAIN WORLD NEWS PAGE |

---

Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.