MOSCOW Russia's nuclear missile chief significantly shifted Moscow away from outright rejection of U.S. anti-missile plans on Monday by offering a counterbalancing proposal ahead of leadership changes in America's White House.
General Vladimir Yakovlev, commander of the strategic rocket forces, told Russian reporters it would be very difficult to persuade Washington not to violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that limits defenses against nuclear attack.
Hitherto Moscow has said U.S. plans for a national missile defense against rogue rockets would violate the ABM treaty, which strictly limits defenses against nuclear attack. Both main U.S. presidential candidates seem wedded in some form to NMD.
Intriguingly, Yakovlev said it would be difficult to persuade the United States to ditch the defense plans altogether and to avoid rewriting the ABM treaty. He said the main threat was the potential change to the strategic nuclear balance.
"As a counterbalance to American plans to modify the treaty's references to anti-missile defenses, Yakovlev proposed to introduce an unchanging general indicator of strategic weapons which would include anti-missile defense means as well as means of nuclear attack'," Interfax news agency said.
The strategic rocket forces press office confirmed Yakovlev's comments.
"A country that wishes to increase one of the components will have to cut the other," Yakovlev said.
There was no immediate reaction from the United States but Russian defense writer Alexander Golts said the general's comments were a significant change.
(Reuter)