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Perilous
Times
Russia tests new nuclear missile amid row with US
From correspondents in Moscow
From: AFP
May 21, 2011 7:58AM
RUSSIA has conducted its second intercontinental ballistic missile
test in less than a month as it stepped up its campaign against a
US-backed interceptor system for Europe.
News reports said the Sineva missile was launched from a Russian
submarine in the Barents Sea and later successfully hit its target
on the opposite side of the country on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
"The launch was conducted from a submerged position," defence
ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies.
"The warheads hit the test range on schedule," he added.
The Sineva submarine-launched missile is one of the most recent
additions to Russia's nuclear arsenal and was only fully tested
for the first time in 2008.
Each missile carries up to 10 warheads and has a range of more
than 11,000 kilometres.
It was the second submerged missile launch conducted by Russia
since April 26.
Russia occasionally tests its heavy nuclear missiles as it
upgrades outdated models with new features and capabilities.
But the tests are also often seen as a show of force that coincide
with diplomatic tensions with the US.
Russia had scaled back its testing programme as it negotiated a
new nuclear disarmament treaty with the United States that went
into effect after nearly a decade of tortuous negotiations earlier
this year.
Yet Moscow is currently furious with Washington for pushing ahead
with plans to deploy a missile defence system for Europe - a
shield that Russia fears could one day be transformed into an
offensive weapon that targets its soil.
Russia has demanded an equal say in how the system works and also
sought formal security safeguards from the United States
confirming the shield's peaceful long-term intent.
But both the United States and NATO have refused to let Russia
have an equal say in the system's construction and operation.
Moscow diplomats said Washington has also refused their safeguards
request.
President Dmitry Medvedev warned earlier this week Washington's
failure to address Russia's concerns could lead to a new Cold War
and his comments were echoed overnight by the chief of the
military's general staff.
General Nikolai Makarov said the system could pose a direct
challenge to Russia's security once it becomes more powerful in
2015 and force Moscow to channel funds on new weapons development
that could lead to "a mad arms race".
"No one needs a new round of the arms race," Makarov said.