Senior Russian senator hits out at U.S. nuclear deterrence report

RIA Novosti
Thursday, April 16, 2009

MOSCOW, April 16 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian politician has expressed “surprise” and “indignation” at the contents of a report by an influential U.S. think tank that calls for “minimal nuclear deterrence.”

The study by the Federation of American Scientists and Natural Resources Defense Council recommends a nuclear policy that would see Washington target nuclear missiles at major industrial objects rather than population centers.

This, the authors said, would be the first step toward U.S. President Barack Obama’s recently-stated goal of “a world without nuclear weapons.”

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Vasily Likhachyov, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, said he was concerned by the nature of the report, calling its proposals “an infringement of the fundamental principles of international law.”

He pointed out that under an existing agreement, the U.S. and Russia did not target nuclear missiles at each other, something he said that Moscow “strictly adheres to.”

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The U.S. report says that once the policy has been formulated, Obama should publicly announce the changed role for nuclear weapons and the new types of targets.

The senator also said that the naming in the report of 12 potential targets – three oil refineries, three iron and steel works, two aluminum plants, one nickel plant, and three thermal electric power plants – demonstrated “disrespect for the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.”

Full story here.

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