Ceremony Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers, September 17th, 2007

We are pleased to announce that September 15, 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Agreement on the Establishment of Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers (NRRCs) between the former Soviet Union and the United States. Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Verification, Compliance and Implementation Paula DeSutter and Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States the Honorable Yuri Ushakov are hosting a ceremony at 1 p.m. on Monday, September 17^th, 2007, in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the Department of State. Deputy Secretary John Negroponte will make remarks on this historic occasion.

The Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers continue to function, and are responsible for exchanging vital time-sensitive notifications required by roughly a dozen arms control treaties and security agreements. 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. In addition to the original NRRCs in Washington and Moscow, there are now equivalent Centers in Kiev, Ukraine, Minsk, Belarus, and Almaty, Kazakhstan.