Norway and Russia have now agreed on the terms under which Norway is to finance the dismantling of two nuclear-powered non-strategic submarines from the Russian Northern Fleet. State Secretary Kim Traavik will be travelling to Moscow on 30 June to sign the contracts on behalf of the Norwegian Government.

"I am very pleased that the final pieces needed to achieve an agreement have now fallen into place. There is an urgent need to begin dismantling these submarines. Many of them are in a grave state of disrepair," said State Secretary Kim Traavik. "The work will begin immediately after the contracts have been signed and will be completed in the course of a year."

It was originally planned that the contracts would be signed in Kirkenes on 12 June. This was not possible, because the Russians requested that Norway should also pay for reprocessing the spent nuclear fuel from the two submarines. The Russians claimed that there was not enough money in this year’s budget to finance the reprocessing of the spent fuel.

"In Norway’s view, the Russians are responsible for dealing with the spent uranium fuel. There is no question of our paying to reprocess it," said State Secretary Traavik.

It has now been agreed that reprocessing the fuel will continue to be Russia’s responsibility. At the same time, Norway will increase its support for cleaning up the two former Russian naval bases Andreyev and Gremikha. These projects are being given high priority in Norway’s nuclear safety efforts.

The submarines that are being dismantled are non-strategic submarines, which are also known as attack submarines. This means that they have not carried ballistic missiles, but have been equipped with nuclear missiles and torpedoes intended for underwater and surface vessels. The vessels were built at the Admiralty Shipyard in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1976 and 1978. They belong the Victor II class and have been laid up for several years pending dismantlement.

At the G8 summit last year, where the G8 countries established the Global Partnership Programme for assisting Russia in dealing with its weapons and materials of mass destruction, President Putin stressed that Russia was giving high priority to dismantling the nuclear-powered non-strategic submarines in its nuclear safety efforts.

Norway is the first country to respond to this appeal. Norway is participating formally in the Global Partnership Programme, and dismantling these two submarines is its first contribution to the programme.

The press contact during the State Secretary’s visit will Anne Lene Dale Sandsten, mobile: +47 908 58 114.