491 



VOL 48, NO. 4 ■ MAY 1992 



BULIETIN 



OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS 



Send help, 

 not charity 



In the once dosed dty of Se- 

 verodvinsk. Russia, change 

 has at least reached the out- 

 skirts. No longer do guards 

 examine papers at the check- 

 point at the edge of town; the 

 checkpoint guardpost has 

 been converted into a small 

 commercial store. But within 

 the city a debate is raging 

 over how much more change 

 should be allowed. Home 

 to the "Northern Machine 

 Building Plant," the largest 

 nuclear submarine-building 

 construction yard in the 

 world, Severod\Tnsk lies on 

 the White Sea coast near 

 Arkhangelsk. The town's 

 250.000 inhabitants are di- 

 vided about what should 

 happen next, with conserva- 

 tive plant directors, military 

 men, and securitj- forces pit- 

 ted against more liberal com- 

 munity members. 



Conservative leaders want 

 to keep the town closed. 



Since the 1950s, 115 nuclear- 

 powered submarines have 

 been built at the yards, but 

 now Russian militar>' produc- 

 tion is on the decline, and sub- 

 marine construction is no ex- 

 ception. At one time Russian 

 shipyards launched six new 

 nuclear subs a year now the 

 head of the Russian navy 

 says they will be lucky to pro- 

 duce an average of three 

 every two years. Liberal res- 

 idents know that some sort of 

 manufacturing conversion is 

 needed to save the city, and 

 they say the city should be 

 more open to e.xtemal invest- 

 ment or aid. 



But what kind of assis- 

 tance, particularly from the 

 West, would be useful? City 

 and plant officials are criti- 

 cal of current Western aid 

 programs. In contrast to re- 

 ports from Moscow and St. 

 Petersburg, which have re- 

 vealed a wide variety of re- 

 sponses from aid recipients, 

 officials in Severodvinsk de- 

 scribe food aid as insulting. 

 We can take care of our old 

 people, they say. According 

 to the submarine plant's 

 chief engineer. N. Kalistra- 

 tov. the number one priority 

 in aid is not food, but the 

 technology and technical 

 know-how to convert to a 

 ci\'ilian economy. The chair- 

 man of the city's Soviet says 

 that Russians need the kind 



of assistance that allows 

 them to help themselves, 

 not handouts. 



Arkhangelsk is a 40-min- 

 ute drive from Severodvinsk. 

 It has also been receiving 

 Western aid. particularly 

 from Scandinavian countries. 

 Some local residents de- 

 scribed the food aid as coun- 

 terproductive, noting that if 

 one person receives a food 

 package and dozens do 

 ' not. friction results. They 

 were particularly uncom- 

 plimentary about American 

 aid. Aging military rations 

 originally intended for De- 

 sert Storm — packaged with 

 plastic utensils and sun- 

 glasses — compared poorly 

 to 90-kilogram Norwegian 

 aid packages. Here people 

 also asked for "real" aid- 

 technical help that will be 

 useful in the long run. If the 

 West wants to send human- 

 itarian aid, they said, it 

 should send children's vita- 

 mins and other medical sup- 

 plies, which will really save 

 lives. 



Time recently wrote that 

 Western aid was supposed to 

 'take the edge off hunger and 

 provide a sjTnbol of interna- 

 tional solidaritv-" (M^ch 16. 

 1992). But without a clear 

 aid strateg>", there may be a 

 wide gap between Western 

 intentions and Russian per- 

 ceptions. Many regard food 

 aid as either insulting or in- 

 adequate. Long-term assis- 

 tance that 'Aill help to cre- 

 ate an open society and 

 allow the militaiy-inrlustri- 

 al complex to reorient to- 

 waixl civilian needs would do 

 more to reduce Russian wor- 

 ries about the future. 



— Joshua Handlei- 



. Joshua Handler /,-- re- 

 aearcli cooniiiiator for the 

 Gi"eii/)eace S'lirtear Free 

 Si'is Campaign. 



