15 March 2002, Volume 3, Number 10
RFE/RL Security and Terrorism Watch
RUSSIA MIGHT KEEP WARHEADS. A top Russian military official said Moscow will consider retaining its arsenal of multiple, independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) if strategic arms reduction talks with the U.S. fail. Colonel General Yurii Baluevskii, the first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, made the comments to reporters in Moscow on 5 March, saying if Moscow fails to reach an agreement with Washington to reduce the number of strategic offensive weapons, Moscow would keep the MIRVs in its arsenal. Baluevskii also said Moscow will insist that all nuclear warheads dismantled as a result of the pending agreement be destroyed, "Krasnaya zvezda" reported the same day. Washington has suggested that the warheads be stored rather than destroyed. Baluevskii also expressed doubts that the U.S. would be able to develop and deploy a National Missile Defense in the near future. VY
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