Staff writer
Japan plans to provide $40 million -- or roughly 5 billion yen -- in aid to help Russia dismantle about 50 aging nuclear submarines that were deployed in the Far East but are now decommissioned, government sources said Wednesday.
The sources said the SSNs could pose a serious threat to the region's environment unless they are dismantled as soon as possible. The Japanese aid money will be spent partly to expand the Zvezda dockyard -- where the SSNs are to be dismantled -- near Vladivostok.