WASHINGTON, February 17 (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein – The decline in the US National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) nonproliferation budget is a direct result of the downturn in relations with Russia, NNSA administrator Frank Klotz told Sputnik on Wednesday.
“A lot of activities that we had been doing jointly and collaboratively and cooperatively are not taking place,” Klotz said of US-Russian work on nuclear nonproliferation.
In its 2017 budget request, the NNSA requested a 6.4 percent decrease in funding for nuclear nonproliferation activities. Klotz attributed the decline in funding to the “downturn” in relations between the United States and Russia.
In a Wednesday speech at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit, Klotz explained that after US relations with Russia took a turn for the worse beginning in 2014, the agency was able to apply a “significant number of carryover balances” to its budget, as a result of decreased activity with Russia.
US-Russia relations deteriorated after Crimea rejoined the Russian Federation in 2014 and Washington accused Moscow of interfering with Ukrainian sovereignty – allegations Russia has denied.
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have worked on joint programs to ensure the security of nuclear materials, and provide assistance to nations that use nuclear technology commercially.
http://sputniknews.com/us/20160217/1034920427/nnsa-budget-nuclear-relations.html
