Minister of Defense Rules out Nuclear Weapons

Russia in the World ^ | September 12th, 2004

[struwwelpeter]

Russian Defense Minister ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in the fight against terror

Pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases will not include the use of nuclear weapons. This was declared by RF Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov on the air (during an interview on Russian television station) NTV this Sunday. "A pre-emptive strike may include anything possible except for the use of a nuclear weapon. If they've declared war on us, and we've undergone an attack, well excuse me, in a war all means are well and good" the minister said.

"When I spoke of pre-emptive strikes - this doesn't mean at all that we would use large combat formations, frontal aviation, warships, and the like, though we also have this," Sergey Ivanov noted.

In his words, "to judge by what forces and means are at our disposal, we have units at constant readiness, we have a very accurate aviation weapon, and so forth."

"In any case, of course we're not going to discuss ahead of time just what sort of pre-emptive strike we're going to carry out," Sergey Ivanov concluded.

Effectively defending Russia is possible only with a mobile army, Ivanov declared. The head of the military underscored that in this century of modern technology "one can only survive using modern armaments, and not just by the number of soldiers."

"The question of mobility is a tough one," Ivanov emphasized. Regarding the question of reforms being carried out in the armed forces, the defense head said that by the year 2008 it is planned to have the entire armed forces serving on a contract basis.

"We calculate that by 2008 all units at constant readiness from the army, naval infantry, paratroop units will be fully on a contract (volunteer) basis, - noted Ivanov.

"A change over to a contract system is simply not possible to do in single hour", - the minister said. In his words "to carry out reform in the course of one or two years, this simply utopia."

12 September 2004

[struwwelpeter]

The waiting is the hardest part...

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL!

[struwwelpeter]

An interesting tidbit:

The Russian general consulate in Brest acknowleged that on Saturday 125 persons of Chechnyan nationality were detained at the Belarussian-Polish border. Diplomats in the consulate reported by telephone to RIA "Novosti" that the detained are "scattered among the hotels of Brest, at the given moment the situation is peaceful and under control."

Other than this the consulate declined futher commentary. No one would answer the telephones at the Belarussian interior and foreign ministries

Earlier it was reported that the people were alarmed by the latest reports in the northern Caucasus, and were trying to leave Russian territory. Belarussian border guards reported that the exits visas of the Chechnyans were all in order, but the Polish side refused to let those exiting Russian to enter their territory.

12 September 2004
Russia in the World