Russia soothes NATO concerns over nuclear posture
( 2003-10-10 09:38) (Agencies)
Russia sought on Thursday to soothe concerns at
NATO over its military posture, saying it did not reserve the right for itself
to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes.
"You are right," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said when asked if
Moscow's doctrine differed from that of the United States, which reserves the
right to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively.
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| Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
addresses members of the media during a press conference at the informal
meetings of NATO Defense Ministers in Colorado Springs, Colorado October
9, 2003. [Reuters] | "Russia still regards nuclear weapons as a means of political deterrent," he
told a news conference after meeting counterparts from the 19-nation alliance in
Colorado Springs.
Ivanov also said Moscow saw its former Cold War foe as a partner in efforts
to fight new security threats such as terrorism and the spread of weapon of mass
destruction, and in possible missile defense projects.
He denied media reports that a recent Russian defense document had suggested
the need for an overhaul of Moscow's military posture and nuclear strategy
because of an "offensive" NATO military doctrine.
However, he did say that Russia was increasing military deployments in former
Soviet states and was concerned about NATO deployments near its borders,
including one which put alliance warplanes within three minutes' flying time of
St. Petersburg.
Both Ivanov and NATO officials said that more than three hours of discussions
in Colorado Springs on Thursday included plans to continue improvement of
military ties between Moscow and the West.
"All he said was he had seen some Russian press reports and European press
reports last week about this Russian strategy document and he wanted to assure
us that he felt they were erroneous -- that there were no negative Russian
intentions toward NATO," U.S. envoy to NATO Nicholas Burns told reporters.
"In fact not only in the body language, but everything that he said was the
opposite direction," he added.
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