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Russia Successfully Tests Missiles: Military Chief
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 14 Jul 2009 14:59

MOSCOW - Russia on July 14 fired a strategic missile from a nuclear submarine, the second successful test in as many days, the head of Russia's general staff, Nikolai Makarov, said.

"The launch was a success according to all the parameters," Makarov was quoted as saying by Russian agencies. "Our objectives were reached, all tasks have been accomplished."

The intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from the Briansk nuclear submarine near the North Pole. The missile has a range of nearly 9,000 kilometers (5,580 miles).

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Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says tests are set to resume this month on a submarine-launched ballistic missile that has failed repeatedly in earlier trials.

Test launches of the Bulava missile were put on hold last year after a series of failed launches, most of which, Serdyukov says, were traced to manufacturing flaws.

The Bulava is Russia's newest three-stage missile. It is designed to carry up to 10 nuclear warheads and can travel up to 8,000 kilometers.

Test firings have failed in seven of 12 launches, forcing the head of the institute developing the Bulava to resign in July 2009.
Yuri Solomonov quit the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology just days after a Bulava missile fired from a submarine in the White Sea exploded in mid-air.

The Bulava is the sea-based version of Russia's Topol-M surface-to-surface missile that is expected to become the chief weapon in the country's strategic missile force.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told CNN television Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and "strike forces" if it were shut out of a Western missile shield, adding punch to a warning from President Dmitry Medvedev.

In an interview with Larry King taped Tuesday, Putin said the WikiLeaks scandal was "no catastrophe" and warned the United States not to meddle with Russian elections.

He also warned of the "colossal danger of an escalation" in tensions on the Korean Peninsula and urged Iran to open its nuclear facilities to U.N. scrutiny.

Putin said missile threats against Europe must be tackled jointly -- a reference to an agreement reached at a November 20 Russia-NATO summit to cooperate on missile defence. Plans are sketchy and Russia has warned it wants an equal role.

If Russia's proposals are rejected and Western missile defence installations create "additional threats" near its borders, "Russia will have to ensure its own security," he said.

Russia would "put in place new strike forces ... against the new threats which will have been created along our borders," he said, according to a translation in an excerpt on CNN's website. "New missile, nuclear technologies will be put in place."

Putin said Russia was not threatening the West. But the remarks underscored the Kremlin's insistence on maintaining a significant role in a missile defence system and suggested improving ties could sour again if agreement is not reached.

In his state of the nation address on Tuesday, Medvedev warned that a new arms race would erupt if U.S. and NATO offers of cooperation on missile defence failed to produce a concrete agreement within a decade.

"That's not our choice, we don't want that to happen. This is no threat on our part, Putin said. "We've been simply saying that this is what all of us expect to happen if we don't agree on a joint effort there."

U.S. plans for a missile shield have been a major irritant in its ties with Moscow since the Cold War. Now both Russia and the West are casting missile defence cooperation as a crucial ingredient in recipes to bring the former foes closer.

As part of a campaign to "reset" strained relations with Moscow, President Barack Obama last year scrapped Bush-era plans for radar and interceptor missiles in eastern Europe that Russia said would be a major threat to its security.

"We are thankful to him for the fact that he has softened the rhetoric in U.S.-Russia relations," Putin said.

POWERFUL PUTIN

Russia has been far more accepting of Obama's revised blueprint, which involves shorter-range interceptors. But Putin suggested Russia would feel threatened if the United States pushes ahead without significant Russian input and warned against any actions of "a very dumb nature" that would ignore Russian interests.

The Kremlin warnings come amid uncertainty over U.S. Senate ratification of New START, a strategic nuclear arms limitation treaty signed by Obama and Medvedev in April and seen as the linchpin of improving relations.

Russia emphasises it could withdraw from New START if a U.S. missile shield develops into a threat to its security.
Putin's interview was conducted shortly after Medvedev delivered his annual address in the Kremlin, timing that seemed to emphasise that the former president has a strong hand on Russia's reins despite now holding Russia's No. 2 office.

"I think he is underscoring for the West that he remains one of Russia's two leaders -- that he maintains serious reserves of power and would like to continue to take part in determining foreign policy," analyst Alexei Makarkin told Ekho Moskvy radio.

U.S. diplomatic cables revealed by the website WikiLeaks describe Putin as Russia's "alpha-dog" ruler and Medvedev as a sidekick-like "Robin to Putin's Batman."

In an excerpt from the interview, Putin said the WikiLeaks scandal was "no catastrophe" and that some experts believe it could have been engineered for "political purposes."

Putin steered Medvedev into the Kremlin in 2008 and has suggested he may return in a 2012 vote. He said he and Medvedev would make a "concerted decision" about who would run, CNN said.

Responding to a leaked cable citing U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates as portraying Russia as undemocratic, Putin said Gates was "deeply misled," CNN reported.

He said that when Russia raised shortcomings in U.S. democracy, it was told not to interfere. "I would also like to advise you, don't interfere either (with) the sovereign choice of the Russian people," CNN quoted him as saying.

Putin said he was concerned about tensions between North and South Korea but appeared to express optimism that "emotions will be shelved and the dialogue will be started."

Turning to Iran, he said there was no reason to suspect Tehran is using its energy program to develop nuclear arms, as the West alleges, but said Moscow still stood with the international community in seeking full disclosure.

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Jon Boyle)

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With Russia's $650 billion rearmament plan, the bear sharpens its teethBy Fred Weir Fred Weir Mon Feb 28, 4:22 pm ET

Moscow – The graying bear is getting a make-over. Russia's military is launching its biggest rearmament effort since Soviet times, including a $650 billion program to procure 1,000 new helicopters, 600 combat planes, 100 warships, and 8 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Analysts say Russia, while already the world's fifth-largest military spender, needs strong conventional forces to reduce its overreliance on its aging Soviet-era nuclear missile deterrent. Valentin Rudenko, director of the independent Interfax-Military News Agency, says it could create "a whole new ballgame."

"For about two decades we've had no real modernization, at least not like what's being proposed now," he says. "Russia will finally have a modern, top-level armed forces that are capable of protecting the country."

Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin last week announced the unprecedented new outlays, which will see a massive re-equipping of Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent as well as its conventional forces. The Defense Ministry today said the "modernization drive" will begin this year with the deployment of new generations of air defense and antimissile weapons by Russian ground forces.

The impressive shopping spree comes on the heels of a painful military reform that severely downsized Russia's conscript Army, eliminating 9 out of 10 Soviet-era units and cutting 200,000 officers. The goal now, experts say, is to equip Russia's new lean-and-mean, largely professional armed forces to face 21st-century threats. These are mainly considered to be regional conflicts such as the brief 2008 Russo-Georgian war, which highlighted military shortcomings.

Skepticism over spending

Much of the new spending will go toward revamping Russia's naval forces, which are slated to receive new submarines, 35 naval corvettes, 15 frigates, and 4 Mistral-type helicopter-transporting amphibious assault ships. Two of the $750 million Mistrals will be purchased from France, and two are to be constructed in Russian shipyards.

Some experts are deeply skeptical of the expenditures – especially the expensive purchase of Mistral helicopter carriers, which are designed to project power around the globe rather than fight the defensive and local wars that Russian military doctrine declares as the country's main priority.

"It's hard to see what our Navy needs these Mistral money pits for," says Viktor Baranets, a former defense ministry spokesman who's now military correspondent for the Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. He says they may be prestigious, "but they require a huge amount of protection. At any time, half the Russian Navy may be employed just escorting these ships around the world."

The new submarines will be designed to deploy a brand-new long-range nuclear missile, the Bulava, which has failed half of its flight tests so far. "Defense ministers can make promises, but no designer or engineer can promise that the Bulava will be operational in time," says Mr. Baranets.

Uncertainty over new stealth fighter

Experts point out that most of the new weaponry to be procured is actually based on old, Soviet-era designs, including the Mi-28 helicopter gunship, the Mi-26 transport helicopter, and the Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter plane.

"These are all designs from the late Soviet period, and not really new at all," says Alexander Golts, military expert with the online newsmagazine Yezhednevny Zhurnal. "The lack of fresh designs shows the underlying weakness of our military-industrial complex."

The only truly new weapons being rolled out, says Mr. Golts, are the trouble-plagued Bulava missile and the much-hyped "fifth-generation" fighter plane that Russia is reportedly developing with India.

"We don't know enough about this Russian fifth-generation fighter to tell whether it is the real thing" – a futuristic stealth fighter comparable to the US Air Force's F-22 and F-35 warplanes – "or if it's just a jumped-up version of something old," says Golts.

Critics say that despite the huge sums of money slated to be injected into the rearmament program, it is far short of the amounts needed to revive Russia's moribund military-industrial complex, which has lost the vast network of subcontractors that existed in Soviet times.

"This is not the first time the Kremlin has talked about military modernization," says Golts. "But all previous programs have failed."

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Russia to deploy 2 army brigades in Arctic

(AP) – 3 hours ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's defense minister says the military will deploy two army brigades to help protect the nation's interests in the Arctic.

Anatoly Serdyukov says his ministry is working out specifics, such as troops numbers, weapons and bases, but a brigade includes a few thousand soldiers.

Serdyukov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Friday the brigades could be based in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk or other areas.

Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, believed to hold up to a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia "remains open for dialogue" with its polar neighbors, but will "strongly and persistently" defend its interests in the region.

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