Yuzhmash

UKRAINE: NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Russian/Nat Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma will sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty in Budapest tomorrow, putting the world's third-largest nuclear power firmly on the road to total disarmament. But many Ukrainians have criticised the move, claiming such a move will mean the country will never again be a great power. At the Ukrainian factory which produced SS19 missiles, not everybody is convinced that President Kuchma has made the right decision. An SS19 missile - one of the most powerful symbols of the Cold War. Before, these weapons were aimed at US military and civilian targets. Now the 'Yuzhmash' factory in Ukraine, which manufactured most of the former Soviet Union's arsenal of SS-18 and SS-19 missiles, has been put in charge of dismantling them. Ukraine inherited an arsenal of 176 nuclear missiles and around eighteen-hundred nuclear warheads when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. While the warheads are sent to Russia, the missiles themselves will be dismantled in Ukraine. At Yuzhmash work is underway to build a new plant to store and dismantle the weapons. It is being built with Western aid and will be ready in a year. Until then the missiles will stay in the open although officials claim they are not dangerous. Some at the plant think the decision to scrap the weapons a little hasty. SOUNDBITE: (RUSSIAN - 17') We understand that it had to be done. But these missiles can be used not only for military purposes, they can be used for peaceful aims too, launching into space. The Americans aren't doing this. They are keeping theirs, we're destroying ours. SUPER CAPTION: Anatoly Alyekhin, Deputy Director 'Yuzhmash' But the Ukrainian government is determined to make the country non-nuclear so long as the West gives them much-needed funds not only to dismantle the missiles, but to compensate those workers directly affected by the agreement. SOUNDBITE: (UKRAINIAN - 28') Of course, we are not only thinking about nuclear weapons, we are also thinking about those people whose everyday work will be affected. We have to ensure that these people will be looked after. SUPER CAPTION: Boris Tarasyuk, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign. Minister But for the moment their jobs are safe. These days those same highly-skilled workers who put together the SS-19 missiles are being asked to take them apart, and for some it's a painful job. SOUNDBITE: (RUSSIAN - 16') To take apart ourselves, with our own hands that intricate machinery, the peak of all our achievements in science and technology, is of course very sad SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Sokol, Director 'Yuzhmash' Inspectorate. But the factory has already begun to come to terms with the painful process of military conversion. 'Yuzhmash's new products - trolley buses and tramcars. Perhaps it is fitting that money previously spent on the arms race is now being spent on those things which were neglected during the Cold War. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3755c5381958bfd63ee5b9410ee390fa Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork