Russia Says Nuke Strikes Possible
By STEVE GUTTERMAN,
Posted: 2008-01-19 16:52:51
Filed Under: World News
MOSCOW (Jan. 19) - Russia's military chief of staff said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes to protect itself and its allies, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities.

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky's comment did not mark a policy shift, military analysts said. Amid disputes with the West over security issues, it may have been meant as a warning that Russia is prepared to use its nuclear might.

"We do not intend to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand ... that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky said at a military conference in a remark broadcast on state-run cable channel Vesti-24.

According to the state-run news agency RIA-Novosti, Baluyevsky added that Russia would use nuclear weapons and carry out preventive strikes only in accordance with Russia's military doctrine.

The military doctrine adopted in 2000 says Russia may use nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear attack on Russia or an ally, or a large-scale conventional attack that poses a critical risk to Russia's security.

Retired Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, formerly a top arms control expert with the Russian Defense Ministry, said he saw "nothing new" in Baluyevsky's statement. "He was restating the doctrine in his own words," Dvorkin said.

Moscow-based military analyst Alexander Golts said that when Russia broke with stated Soviet-era policy in the 2000 doctrine and declared it could use nuclear weapons first against an aggressor, it reflected the decline of Russia's conventional forces in the decade following the 1991 Soviet collapse.

"Baluyevsky's statement means that, as before, we cannot count on our conventional forces to counter aggression," Golts told Ekho Moskvy radio. "It means that as before, the main factor in containing aggression against Russia is nuclear weapons."

Putin and other Russian officials have stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent and reserved the right to carry out preventive strikes. But in most of their public remarks on preventive strikes, Russian officials have not specifically mentioned nuclear weapons.

Baluyevsky spoke amid persistent disputes between Moscow and the West over issues including U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in former Soviet satellites, NATO members' refusal to ratify an updated European conventional arms treaty, and Kosovo's bid for independence from Serbia.

Like Golts, Moscow-based military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Russia plays up its nuclear deterrent because of its weakness in terms of conventional arms. "We threaten the West that in any kind of serious conflict, we'll go nuclear almost immediately," he said.

But in the absence of a real threat from the West, he said, "It's just talk."


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Hopefully this is just blustering and idle rhetoric. It's as if the Cold War never went away.

What do you think of the threats?
1 .... They're serious
2 .... They're bluffing

Nothing new, more sabre rattling!

I think they are serious, and I think they have the means to carry out exactly what they say. I think Russia and US both have lots of Star wars equipment, much greater than most people can even imagine ,even some poor quality space ships,(no match for the real ones) electromagnetic pulse weapons, but for some reason , I don't understand , that Russia's weapons are much more powerful than ours, and that Russia has for years complete control of space around this planet and spying technology(spy satellites),and this is probably why Bush or Israel have not yet attacked Iran, they have not figured out a way to do it without being punished by Russia and China. I figure that is why Bush wants to set up stuff next to Russia's border(we might be fresh out of spy satellites too)(why do we use those drones?), to make a last ditch effort on taking over the world , but I figure the One world Order guys already lost most of their hopes, since everything they have been trying lately seems to fail. But these One World order guys are in desperation now and are said to be suicidal and in desperation may try anything no matter how stupid it is. Let's hope that neither US or Israel try to attack Iran ,could be bad for our health here in US on our own land.