Russia to Cancel US Nuke Security Aid

Russian officials have told the United States that they intend to allow the Nunn-Lugar weapons reduction and security agreement when it expires in May of 2013, saying that they no longer need US help and are concerned about leaks of important security information.

The program got its start as an effort to help Russia move nuclear weapons out of other former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

More recently it has centered around the US helping pay for dismantling Russian arms, which has come under fire from Republicans saying that the subsidies allow Russia to divert money to purchasing more modern weapons.

But Russian officials aren’t too keen with the plan either, as the $500 million or so in annual US expenditures are also giving them access to what would normally be secret facilities across Russia. Fear of that, alongside efforts by the Russian government to assert themselves as an independent nation, no longer aid dependent, have convinced them that it is a deal they can do without.