Mr Yeltsin offered to remove the submarines during a state visit to Russia by King Harald V of Norway.

Norway's King Harald meets President Yeltsin in Moscow

"We don't need old submarines at all. We can remove the old nuclear submarines from the entire Barents region and declare it a safety zone," said Mr Yeltsin after talks with the king.

There has been no official Norwegian reply so far, but Norway has long expressed concern about what it says is an environmental threat posed from the Russian fleet in the Barents Sea.

The country has already promised to earmark 200-250m Norwegian kroner ($27-33m) over three to four years for projects to improve nuclear safety in the Kola peninsula.

These proposals include disposal of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, notably from Russia's nuclear submarines, which environmentalists say pose a serious radiation threat.

Increased co-operation to ensure safety at the Kola peninsula nuclear power plant is also covered by the deal.

Russia's radiation danger

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 drastic defence cuts have deprived Russia of the funds needed to scrap decaying nuclear submarines.

The environmental threat was first highlighted in 1996 by the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.

Their report said the Kola peninsula, which borders on Norway, has a mountain of nuclear waste, comprising 29,040 fuel elements, nine reactor cores and 21,067 cubic meters of solid-fuel nuclear waste.

A furore over the report blew up when a retired Russian naval officer, Alexander Nikitin was arrested and charged with treason after helping Bellona with inquiries.

In May 1998, a Russian official report voiced alarm at the situation in the Andreyev Bay area, just 40km from the Norwegian border, used by Russia as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.