RUSSIANS BELIEVE U.S. NMD PLANS THREATEN RUSSIAN SECURITY. A
poll conducted by the ROMIR agency and reported by ITAR-TASS
on 11 April found that 46.5 percent of Russians believe that
NMD deployment by the United States would pose "a
considerable threat" to Russian national security. Meanwhile,
Major General Vladimir Belous, speaking on behalf of the
government-sponsored organization "Generals and Admirals for
Peace and Security," said that Moscow would have to respond
to an NMD deployment with a space system of its own, the
Russian agency said. Colonel General Valerii Manilov, the
first deputy head of the general staff, told RIA-Novosti on
the same day that Russia's alternative program would include
several regional missile shields rather than a single
national one. PG
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