trols and mishandling of toxic materials also created
long-term contamination of land and water resources.
Mismanagement and failure to provide for safe storage
or disposal of toxic materials have a lasting legacy, in-
cluding increased health problems for large numbers
of people. Contaminated lands are not just a problem
around industrial and military facilities; dangerous
contamination also resulted from the careless location
of dumps. For example, a hazardous site from chemi-
cals and radiation in a Moscow neighborhood appears
to be an old dump, which will be cleaned and used as
for public housing (Byodorov 2007).^
Russia had massive challenges in recovering from
the Soviet era, not the least of which is that it lacked
sufficient economic resources to take on expensive
cleanups. For the first decade after the collapse of the
Soviet regime, the West was especially concerned with
the new regime’s ability and willingness to secure
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons materials,
and associated wastes. There were formidable logisti-
cal and financial challenges to securing, moving, dis-
mantling, and safely disposing of massive amounts of
materials, including decommissioned nuclear subma-
rines. Environmental security concerns about weap-
ons materials included leaks, accidents, sabotage, and
theft, as well as avoiding proliferation, or a brain drain
of unemployed experts to states or groups wanting to
build weapons programs. There were fundamental
worries in the 1990s that weapons materials would be
stolen or sold in the confusion following the collapse
of the Soviet system and establishment of new repub-
lics. Western nations, particularly the United States,
offered substantial technical and financial assistance
to address these pressing issues. Russia entered agree-
ments for help in safely containing or disposing of
these extremely toxic materials.
sharon
(sharon)
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