Russia says no to US-funded disarmament effort

Under the 1992 program initiated by Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, the U.S. has provided billions of dollars in equipment and know-how to help Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbors deal with Soviet nuclear legacy.

The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program provided reinforced rail cars to carry nuclear warheads, high-tech security systems for storage sites and helped pay for the dismantling of mothballed nuclear submarines and other weapons. It played a major role in preventing the deadly weapons from falling into the wrong hands while the Russian government was facing a severe money crunch amid an economic meltdown and political turmoil that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it wouldn't accept a U.S. offer to extend the deal that expires in 2013 without a major overhaul.

"American partners know that their proposal doesn't correspond to our ideas about what forms and what foundation we need to develop further cooperation," it said in a statement. "For that, we need, in particular, a different and more modern legal framework."

While the ministry wouldn't elaborate further on the motives behind Moscow's decision, or spell out its demands, representatives of Russia's top military brass have long complained that the Nunn-Lugar program gives the U.S. too much access and information about the nation's military technologies and weapons sites.