U.S. NMD UNLIKELY TO BE EFFECTIVE ANYTIME SOON, GENERAL SAYS.
Major General Vladimir Belous, the director of the Moscow
Center for International and Strategic Studies, told ITAR-
TASS on 28 February that for the next 10 to 15 years the
American national missile defense (NMD) system will have
"more of a political than a military significance" for Russia
because the systems the U.S. will be able to build and deploy
"will not be very effective." Another view on such defense
came from Duma deputy (Yabloko) Aleksei Arbatov, who told
Interfax on the same day that if Moscow succeeds in securing
U.S. agreement on the creation of a non-strategic missile
defense in Europe, that could lead to Russia's integration
into NATO. PG
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