Report: Russia to cut arms if U.S. drops missile defense plans

[BanglaBhoot]

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian general said Friday the military will cut some weapons programs if the United States drops its missile defense plans, a news agency reported.

The Interfax news agency quoted Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov as saying that the Russian armed forces wouldn't need some prospective strategic weapons if the new U.S. administration changes its mind about deploying missile defense sites in Europe.

"Several expensive programs will simply become unnecessary for us," said Solovtsov, the chief of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces.

Solovtsov didn't elaborate, but he has said earlier that Russia plans to modernize its intercontinental ballistic missiles to protect them from space-based components of the U.S. missile defense system.

Other Russian officials have previously boasted about prospective new warheads capable of making sharp maneuvers to dodge missile defense systems.
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Solovtsov's statement was the latest expression of the Kremlin's hope that Barack Obama may reverse the Bush administration plan to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia has fiercely opposed the plan and promised to deploy missiles next to Poland if the U.S. goes ahead. Russian leaders have dismissed the U.S. claims that the missile shield was aimed to counter a missile threat from Iran, saying it damages Russia's security.

Report: Russia to cut arms if U.S. drops missile defense plans - USATODAY.com

 

[Cheetah786]

Lol Russia is broke they have no choice but to cut there weapons programme oiL is trading at 34 or 36dollars/brl.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Russia criticizes U.S. over arms deal

START treaty expires in '09
David Nowak ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, December 20, 2008

MOSCOW | A senior Russian diplomat harshly criticized the U.S. stance in arms control talks Friday, saying it could further erode mutual trust and undermine global stability.

The United States and Russia have begun talks on a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expires in December 2009, but a cold spell in Russia-U.S. relations has stymied talks.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russian and American negotiators have failed to agree on the basic approach as to which weapons should be counted under the new deal.

Russia wants to count missiles, bombers and submarines along with nuclear warheads fitted to them, as was done in the START I treaty, while the United States agrees only to count nuclear warheads, Mr. Ryabkov said.

"The implementation of the approach proposed by the American side can strip our bilateral relations of a key element -- predictability in arms control -- and badly destabilize the strategic situation," Mr. Ryabkov said.

American officials argued that missiles, bombers and submarines must not be subjected to a nuclear arms control deal because they also can carry conventional weapons.

Mr. Ryabkov spoke after a round of arms control talks earlier this week with a U.S. delegation led by John Rood, the State Department's top arms control official.

Mr. Rood told reporters that he got an impression the Russians were waiting to size up the incoming Obama administration before Moscow advances its position on disputed arms issues.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Indiana Republican, in Moscow to gauge Russia's stance on arms control, said the issue of counting was "worthy of serious discussions."

START I was signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, obligating each country to cut its nuclear warhead stocks by at least one-quarter to about 6,000. Another arms control deal -- the so-called Treaty of Moscow -- was signed in 2002 and called for cutting each country's nuclear arsenal further to 1,700-2,200 warheads by 2012. The document was closely based on START I rules and its verification procedures.

Efforts to negotiate a successor pact to START I have been hurt by a strain in bilateral ties over the U.S. missile defense plans and Russia's war with Georgia in August. Russian officials have voiced hope that ties could improve under the new U.S. administration.

Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, the chief of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, said the military could cut some prospective weapons programs if the Obama administration reverses course on putting missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Several expensive programs will simply become unnecessary for us," Col. Gen. Solovtsov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow's ambassador to the alliance, met over lunch Friday in the first high-level meeting after a four-month hiatus caused by the August war in Georgia.

The informal meeting aimed to explore how formal contacts could be restarted. Russian diplomats in Brussels said they did not expect any specific agreement on whether to restart the NATO-Russia Council -- a consultative panel set up in 2002 to improve relations between the former Cold War foes.

Washington Times - Russia criticizes U.S. over arms deal