Originally from The Journal of Eurasian Law (JEL)

I. Introduction

The question of liability has persisted as one of the most contentious aspects of international assistance to Russia, broadly known as Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR), to address the threats emanating from Russia’s vast post-Soviet nuclear weapons complex. In soliciting and accepting U.S. CTR assistance in the chaos of 1991-1992, Russia agreed to “hold harmless” and indemnify the United States, its personnel and the personnel of its contractors and subcontractors with respect to all claims associated with their activities.1 Russia has persistently sought to revise these liability terms in subsequent agreements and renewals of existing agreements, whereas the United States has pushed to apply the same terms for a broader scope of activities and agreements than those initially provided.