-----Mensagem original----- De: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org]Em nome de uvj at vsnl.com Enviada em: terça-feira, 15 de abril de 2003 12:00 Para: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Assunto: [lbo-talk] Russia sees a threat in U.S. presence in republics
The Hindu
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003
Russia sees a threat in U.S. presence in republics
By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW APRIL 14. The war in Iraq has spurred Russia to strengthen its defence potential and intensify combat training of the armed forces. ``We are drawing military and political conclusions (from the Iraq war),'' said the Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov. "This conflict makes us remember the words of (Russian Czar) Alexander III who said that Russia has only two reliable allies - the army and the navy.''
A week after the U.S.-British forces attacked Iraq, Russia held its biggest wargames in the Caucasus mountains in the past 10 years. Simultaneously Russia's mobile nuclear forces held exercises that included the test-firing of an intercontinental missile. The Navy has begun its most massive deployment in the Indian Ocean since the break-up of the Soviet Union. ``The unprecedented activity of the Defence Ministry points to Moscow's deep concern over the crisis in Iraq,'' a Moscow-based daily said last week.
The Russian military sees the U.S.-led war in Iraq as a potential threat to Russian security, pointing to growing U.S. military presence in former Soviet republics and resumed flights of American U-2 spy planes along Russia's borders. The Air Force Commander, Alexander Mikhailov, went as far as to warn the Americans that Russia would shoot down any spy plane that intruded "as little as one kilometre'' inside the Russian air space. At the height of the military campaign in Iraq, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, paid a much publicised visit to the Russian space forces command centre, while the Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, visited a top-secret nuclear weapons facility. Mr. Putin said plans for the build-up of space-borne forces based on "new generations of space technology'' were being carried out "in full scope.''
Defence experts expect Russia to step up the deployment of the latest Topol M long-range nuclear missiles and the fourth generation plus anti-missile system, Triumph.
Analysts said Russia needed to urgently upgrade its nuclear and missile shield to protect itself against the likely nuclearisation of countries like North Korea, which see the acquisition of nuclear arms as the only guarantee against U.S. military intervention. The defence committee of the Russian Parliament's Lower House has called for increasing the defence budget by 70 per cent from 353 billion roubles ($11.5 billions) to 600 billion roubles ($19 billions) next year.
The Russian Government is speeding up the military reform. Mr. Putin, has approved plans to switch the core of the armed forces to volunteers over the next four years.
It is planned to reintroduce basic military training in Russian schools, which was stopped in the early 1990s at the height of Russia's romance with the West.
Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu
___________________________________
-Too late, isn´t it? Wasn´t the strategic partership with US that put Russia -in this dangerous situation? And the Russia budget is only 5% of US one (on -the other hand, it could be more if you use PPP values, which are useful in -this case since Russia produces essentially all of her weapons)
Alexandre Fenelon