The U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation are pleased to announce that September 15, 2007, marked the twentieth anniversary of the Agreement on the Establishment of Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers (NRRCs). Signed on September 15, 1987, the Agreement created NRRCs in the United States and the Soviet Union (the latter inherited by the Russian Federation). These NRRCs became operational in time to begin implementation of the major arms control agreements of the late 1980s and early 1990s (the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). Envisioned as a transparency and confidence-building measure, the NRRCs proved to be key entities in disarmament and effective arms control, helping in efforts to decrease and to, eventually, eliminate the threat of nuclear war between our nations. Their activities in the last two decades have made a solid contribution toward ending the Cold War and strengthening U.S.-Russian relations on the basis of mutual confidence and strategic partnership.

The Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers continue to function, and are responsible for exchanging vital time-sensitive notifications required by roughly a dozen international arms control and military confidence-building treaties and measures. Watch Officers staff their Centers around the clock, receiving, translating and disseminating these notifications, which can be in English, French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish. With the advent of these additional treaties and measures, their respective participating states successfully established operating verification bodies similar to the NRRCs.

2007/768

Released on September 17, 2007.