In Russia, a Return to Arms :: Charter'97 :: News

Could Russian nuclear missiles soon be returning to the foreign soil of Eastern Europe? That may be Moscow`s response to U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile-defense radars and missile batteries in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia`s ambassador to Belarus, Aleksandr Surikov, said last week that Russia and Belarus were preparing "a response to Washington" that could include "nuclear facilities" in Russia`s tiny but loyal western neighbor. The last Soviet-era missiles were removed from Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan more than 10 years ago, as part of a U.S.-backed disarmament program created by Sens. Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn. But Russia has changed vastly since those humiliating post-Soviet days, and the Kremlin is now in the mood to arm, not disarm.

Russia`s military budget has tripled in the seven years since Vladimir Putin came to power. Some of that money has gone for a new generation of missile submarines and ICBMs with warheads that Russia claims can maneuver in flight to evade the proposed U.S. anti-missile defenses. Russia has also been stepping up cold-war-style drills. Russian Tu-95 "Bear" long-range bombers—designed to deliver nukes—have resumed regular patrols along the U.S. East Coast. In recent weeks, Bears patrolling the North Sea and the Pacific have prompted NATO and U.S. commanders to scramble jets at bases in Scotland and on Guam.

What`s behind this rush to rearm? "It`s rather a crude way to get attention," Lugar told NEWSWEEK while in Moscow last week to try to revive the disarmament process. "Putin is saying, `We`re rich, we`re back`." But Sergei Rogov, head of Moscow`s Institute for the USA and Canadian Studies, insists that while Putin seeks to "get respect," he doesn`t want "real confrontation."

Contradictory? Yes, but better than a new cold war.