- President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia
has new missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system and
said he had briefed the French president on their capabilities.
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- "Russia has tested missile systems that no one in
the world has," Putin said. "These missile systems don't represent
a response to a missile defense system, but it doesn't matter to them whether
that exists or not. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight
path."
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- Putin said the new missiles were capable of carrying
nuclear warheads. He wouldn't say whether the Russian military already
had commissioned any such missiles.
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- Putin said he had shown the working principles of the
missile system to French President Jacques Chirac during a visit to a Russian
military facility. "He knows what I'm talking about," Putin said.
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- In April 2004, Chirac became the first Western leader
to visit Russia's top-secret Titov space control center, which controls
all of its satellites and is involved in launching its intercontinental
ballistic missiles.
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- Putin said the new missiles were capable of changing
both altitude and direction, making it impossible for an enemy to intercept
them since "a missile defense system is designed to counter missiles
moving along a ballistic trajectory."
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- Putin and other Russian officials have boasted of the
new missiles in similar comments in recent years, but they haven't identified
them or given any further details other than about their ability to change
their flight path on approach to a target.
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- Military analysts said Russian forces experimented with
a maneuvering warhead during a missile launch several years ago, but voiced
doubt about their ability to deploy such weapons anytime soon.
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- Analysts said the new warheads, designed to zigzag on
their approach to targets, could be fitted to new land-based Topol-M missiles
and the prospective Bulava missiles for the Russian navy, now under development.
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- Russia opposed Washington's withdrawal in 2002 from the
1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy a national missile
defense shield, saying the 30-year-old U.S.-Soviet pact was a key element
of international security. Putin called the decision a mistake that would
hurt global security but not threaten Russia.
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- The ABM treaty banned missile defense systems on the
assumption that the fear of retaliation would prevent each nation from
launching a first strike - a strategy known as mutually assured destruction.
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- Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia would commission
new early warning radars to replace those located in the former Soviet
republics. The new radars will "provide an earlier warning on launches
of all missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles as well
as tactical and cruise missiles," Ivanov said, according to Russian
news reports.
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- The Russian military has used Soviet-built early warning
radars located in Azerbaijan and Ukraine, and it has been involved in rent
and other arguments over the issue. Ivanov said the commissioning of new
radars will allow Russia to stop using them.
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- http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2006/01/31/ap2489253.html
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