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Russia: Strategic Forces Too Obsolete to Withstand First Strike, Newspaper Says Russia’s strategic forces are too obsolete to be able to withstand and reply to a hypothetical U.S. first strike in the event of a nuclear war, according to Russia’s Novaya Gazeta, Defense and Security reported today. Most of Russia’s strategic bombers and their cruise missiles are obsolete. Because of fuel shortages, most strategic bombers do not even fly, the Gazeta reported, adding it is likely that all of Russia’s strategic bombers would be destroyed in a first strike. Russia has six Typhoon-class submarines that can be armed with 20 MIRV warhead-equipped missiles, but only four are operational and only one is on duty, according to the Gazeta. Russian submarines could launch their missiles while still in dock, but most would probably be destroyed by a first strike, the Gazeta reported. Russia’s Delta-3 submarines, which can be armed with 16 SS-N-18 missiles, are being scrapped because they are reaching the end of their operational life (see GSN, Nov. 27, 2001). The missiles in Russia’s Strategic Missile Force have also become obsolete, and many would be scrapped by 2007 if the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II entered into force, the Gazeta reported (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2001). Because of this, Russia needs to revise its nuclear war military doctrine, said A.I. Nikolaev, chair of the Russian Duma defense committee. Russia’s strategic nuclear force triad — its strategic bomber force, submarine fleet and missile force — has been ruined, Nikolaev said. A Russian general, however, has said that in modern war a nuclear force is useless, and efforts instead are focused on high-precision munitions (Anatoly Baranov, Novaya Gazeta/Defense and Security, May 6).
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