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Russia Views U.S. “Mini-Nuke” Research as Threat, Experts Say By Mike Nartker MOSCOW — U.S. efforts to expand research into new, miniature nuclear weapons could lead Russia to begin contemplating similar efforts, Russian nuclear nonproliferation experts told Global Security Newswire here yesterday (see GSN, April 25, 2003). Last year, the Bush administration persuaded Congress to overturn a U.S. ban on the research of miniature nuclear weapons, which are defined as having a yield of less than five kilotons. The administration indicated that such weapons, if developed, would be used against terrorists and stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in hardened bunkers. Russia, however, views the efforts to research and develop new nuclear weapons as a threat, said Vladimir Novikov of Russia’s Institute for Strategic Studies. New nuclear arms could lower the overall threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, Novikov said, echoing the concerns of opponents of new nuclear weapons research in the United States. He also said that the question of who would control the use of miniature nuclear weapons — be it the president, the National Security Council, or high-ranking generals in the field — was still unresolved. In addition, Novikov said that the Bush administration’s rationale of potentially using miniature nuclear weapons against terrorists was “not understandable.” The international community would see such an action, for example against terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, more as an attack against another country and the beginning of a nuclear war, he said. Sergei Mikhaliov of the institute questioned how the United States would have reacted if the Soviet Union had decided to use nuclear weapons during its own conflict in Afghanistan during the 1980s. While Russia currently lacks the economic capability to begin similar nuclear weapons research, the experts said, the situation could change as the country’s economy continues to grow. If U.S. efforts move beyond the “theoretical” into “practical research,” then Russia might be forced to act, Mikhaliov said, adding that any actual U.S. tests of miniature nuclear weapons would be seen in Russia as a “signal” to begin serious consideration of its own nuclear weapons research. The research of miniature nuclear weapons, Novikov said, “is not a difficult question” for Russian scientists (see GSN, Aug. 18, 2003).
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