On June 2, the Russian Federation published … “Foundations of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence.” … [a] six-page document … la[ying] out its official position on nuclear deterrence. […]
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” … [M]ilitary escalations in the High North need more attention … [not] the [U.S.] media focus … on … Russian trolls, social media influence peddlers, spies, and various ‘useful idiots.’ … [W]hen the New York Times … seemingly … tr[ied] to investigate what might actually be going on under the … waters of the Barents and off the Norwegian […]
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“… Putin … endorsed Russia’s nuclear deterrent policy which allows him to use atomic weapons in response to a conventional strike targeting … critical government and military infrastructure. … including a non-nuclear attack as a possible trigger for Russian nuclear retaliation … The new expanded wording reflects Russian concerns about the development of prospective weapons that could give Washington the […]
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China’s involvement in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty will put Russia in a more advantageous position, and Moscow could share its experience of such talks with Beijing … Sergei Rogov said […]
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MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) – Russia may employ its nuclear deterrence capabilities in case of threats of aggression against it resulting from certain actions by potential adversaries, according to the fundamentals of Russia’s state nuclear deterrence policy, which were endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The presidential decree lists the key dangers which, depending on changes in the […]
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A top U.S. official said President Donald Trump was expected to seek an extension of the New START treaty with Russia, a major nuclear arms agreement set to expire next year. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 18, 2020) Russia is a distinct civilization that must be protected through genetics and other advanced technologies, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that aired Sunday. Putin told state television that “it would be impossible to secure the future of our civilization” without artificial intelligence, genetics and unmanned vehicles, as well as hypersonic […]
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“… In addition to a rare joint statement … Trump and … Putin connected numerous times over the past several weeks according to public reports. These developments stand out … [T]ies between Moscow and Washington have long been frozen in place. [Recent developments are] even more surprising given the Kremlin’s continued actions in places like Syria and Ukraine. The dual […]
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… another urgent existential threat is quietly growing in the background: the steady termination of nuclear arms control treaties between the United States and the Russian Federation and the absence of new arms control negotiations. ..
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“… New START … signed 10 years ago, verifiably caps each nation’s strategic nuclear arsenals at no more than 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 missile and bomber delivery platforms. The treaty has worked well for both sides. The latest data exchange mandated by the treaty shows Russia with 1,326 deployed warheads on 485 deployed delivery systems, while the United States […]
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(Article text ©2020 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – March 10, 2020 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/us-official-new-start-treaty-should-cover-russian-weapons-systems-under-development/30479166.html) An extension of the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia should include new weapons systems that Moscow is developing, a U.S. State Department official said in a briefing on March 9. The New […]
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“… This shift in power [under the new system proposed by Putin] … poses a series of complications for Russia’s system of nuclear launch authority. Under Article 87.1 of the Russian Constitution, the President is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces … the Law On Defence states that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is the ultimate authority on all nuclear-related matter. […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Nov. 8, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/lavrov-u-s-has-no-proof-russia-deployed-missile-in-violation-of-treaty/30259758.html) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has lashed out at the United States, accusing Washington of failing to provide proof that Moscow deployed a missile in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Earlier this year, Washington withdrew […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Thomas Schaffner – Oct. 16, 2019) The U.S. and Russia have reduced their nuclear arsenals by about 70 and 80 percent, respectively, since the peak of the Cold War, according to the Federation of American Scientists, and the two countries remain committed to bilateral and multilateral documents meant to prevent either intentional or accidental war […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 2 (Interfax) – The United States, unlike Russia, lacks technology for deploying shorter-range and intermediate-range missiles, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said. Commenting on recent U.S. tests, the ambassador said in an interview with Kommersant that the U.S. so far does not possess the necessary technology. He said that if the Pentagon were set to buy […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to discuss with the United States alternative solutions on the issue of prolonging the New START Treaty if Washington expresses its readiness to achieve them, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “We will continue working on getting the Americans to have a substantive discussion of these ideas, or to discuss some […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – The chances of timely agreements on renewing the New START treaty on strategic offensive arms have increased with the resignation of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Russian Federation Council International Affairs Committee head Konstantin Kosachyov said. “The hope for the New START’s renewal is still alive, and will be as long as it is […]
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“… as tens of thousands of protesters once again took to the streets in Moscow to protest upcoming municipal elections, Russian state television showed a smiling … Putin riding with … [a] motorcycle club in Crimea. … a typical scene … the president doing tough guy stuff at the location of his most popular act of [the] annexation of Crimea. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 20, 2019) Russia told an international organization set up to verify a ban on nuclear tests that a military testing accident in northern Russia earlier this month was none of its business and that handing it radiation data was entirely voluntary. Russia has acknowledged that five nuclear workers were killed in the explosion on […]
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“Russia will not deploy new missiles as long as the United States shows similar restraint in Europe and Asia, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said …. The United States formally left the … INF[] treaty with Russia … after accusing Moscow of violating the treaty and deploying one banned type of missile, allegations the Kremlin denies. Russia has also pulled […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff- August 6, 2019) This blog post is a joint product of the Russia Matters project and the Belfer Center’s U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism (IPNT). Is the risk of a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia now higher than at the height of the Cold War? Yes, it is, according to […]
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“… August 8, two soldiers and five staff from a nuclear research center in Sarov died in an explosion in the Arkhangelsk region while testing some of Russia’s latest ‘hardware.’ … monitors … recorded raised levels of background radiation … and part of the White Sea has been closed to shipping. The United States … announced openly … the accident […]
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“After the … death of the [INF Treaty], a new arms race appears to be taking shape … [with] more players … money and … weapons …. [N]ational security adviser … Bolton[] has talked about letting the last strategic-arms control treaty, New START, die in February 2021, without extending it another five years, as foreseen in the accord …. With […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – July 30, 2019) With the historic INF Treaty more than likely to terminate, and the future of New START in doubt, what guiding principles for interstate nuclear arms control can we hope for? Of eight U.S., Russian, European and Chinese experts surveyed by Russia Matters, most agree that bilateral agreements between the world’s two nuclear […]
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BRUSSELS. July 17 (Interfax) – Russia urges the United States and other NATO countries to store their nuclear arsenals only in their national territories. “Russia deploys and stockpiles all its nuclear weapons exclusively on the national territory. We call upon U.S. and NATO to follow this practice,” Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter […]
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MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax) – Russia and the United Stated do not have much time left to draw up a new nuclear arms treaty, which should be comprehensive and should not be worse than the 2011 New START Treaty, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said. “It seems to me that the architecture […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, July 9, 2019) The decision of Moscow and Washington to dispense with arms control agreements, the attitude behind that which holds that the most powerful countries must not be constrained by such accords, and the lack of understanding among the leaders in both capitals about the nature of war all make a […]
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“… a church commission has concluded that one category of blessings is beyond the pale and should not continue: weapons of mass destruction. … at odds with recent practice. … In November, a priest … blessed an S-400 missile unit as it was deployed to the Crimea. The previous year, a priest could … be seen having just completed the […]
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“… [regarding] U.S. deployment of land-based missile systems near Russia’s borders …. ‘If things get as far as an actual deployment on the ground of these sorts of systems, then the situation won’t just get more complicated, it will escalate right to the limit,’ RIA news agency quoted [Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei] Ryabkov as saying. ‘We could find ourselves […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – June 6, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/putin-says-russia-prepared-to-drop-arms-control-treaty-if-u-s-not-interested-in-renewal/29984790.html) In a far-ranging discussion on foreign policy, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is prepared to drop the New START arms control treaty if the United States is not interested in renewing it. Speaking on June 6 at […]
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“… Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant … [had an explosion and] spewed radioactive material across northern Europe. That reactor, a design called the RBMK-1000, was discovered to be fundamentally flawed after the Chernobyl accident. And yet there are still 10 of the same type of reactor in operation in Russia. How do we know if they’re safe? […]
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MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax) – Moscow will deeply regret Iran’s potential withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), but there is still a chance to avert this negative scenario, Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan said in an interview published in the newspaper Izvestia on Thursday. “Doubtlessly, Iran’s […]
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“Intelligence assessment marks first time U.S. has said Kremlin failed to observe Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty commitments” “Russia has likely been secretly carrying out very low-yield nuclear tests to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment, challenging Moscow’s claims …. the first time the U.S. has said the Kremlin has failed to strictly observe its […]
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“Werner Herzog says there’s a ‘subversive message’ to his new documentary ‘Meeting Gorbachev’: Talk to your geopolitical enemies. Herzog interviewed former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev three times in a six-month span to make the new film. He highlights … the reunification of Herzog’s native Germany as well as the groundbreaking 1986 arms control summit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. […]
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“… Kim desperately needed to replace the narrative of weakness after failing to make a widely expected deal with the United States at the Hanoi summit with a narrative of strength, both domestically and internationally. Last week’s summit with Putin allowed Kim to show stature internationally and discuss alternatives to the U.S.-proposed big deal on denuclearization. But he failed to […]
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Subject: Russiagate, There are No Winners Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2019 From: Sarah Lindemann-Komarova <echosiberia@gmail.com> Russiagate, There are No Winners Sarah Lindemann-Komarova [Sarah Lindemann-Komarova has been a community development activist in Siberia since 1992. Currently she is focusing on research and writing about civil society in Russia.] medium.com/@ECHOSiberia/russiagate-there-are-no-winners-4de2dd97acbc Baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, we are now into the […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – April 25, 2019 – russiamatters.org/blog/north-korea-russia-knows-it-can-only-play-second-fiddle-china-and-us) This week’s summit between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un—the first between the Russian and North Korean leaders—has proved to be as underwhelming as expected. While the two spent twice as much time talking face-to-face as had been planned, they neither announced any major agreements nor appeared […]
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“… Focusing on the role played by the Russian Orthodox Church in the restoration and development of the Russian nuclear weapons complex in the post-Cold War period, Adamsky highlights the organizational and ideological impact of the church on the gradual remilitarization of Russia over the last three decades. …”
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Subject: Russian-American Conference on Arms Control Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2019 From: Sergey Rogov <sergeyrogov@hotmail.com> To: davidjohnson@starpower.net I think you might be interested in this information: On April 9-10 the Institute of USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized in Moscow a Russian-American workshop on nuclear arms control with participation of many well known experts from […]
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“… A bold policy shift is needed to support a strategic re-engagement with Russia …. The most difficult task facing the U.S. is also the most important – to refocus on America’s most vital interests even as we respond firmly to Russia’s aggressions. … The U.S. and other nuclear states have yet to take decisive steps toward the goal of […]
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“… Trump came into office signaling a desire to improve relations with Moscow, pledging on the campaign trail to ‘get along great’ with … Putin and win his respect. With the conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation, the president has won more freedom to pursue that goal. But experts say the sand has shifted significantly in Washington […]
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“Most Russian schoolchildren hold as true that the Soviet Union collapsed in part because it was foolish enough to engage in a vast global competition with the United States. … [including] a ruinous arms race that diverted resources from the civilian economy and ultimately bankrupted the country. … Despite a decade-long crash program to reform and reequip Russia’s moribund Soviet-era […]
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“STORY HIGHLIGHTS Russia’s military power deemed critical threat by 52% in U.S. Russia tops list of countries Americans’ deem chief U.S. enemy Russia’s favorable rating drops to another post-Soviet Union low Russia’s already negative image among Americans … worsened over the past year, with a majority for the first time saying that Russia’s military power poses a threat to U.S. […]
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“The top general in charge of the American nuclear arsenal said he would like to see the primary arms-control treaty between the United States and Russia grow to encompass all nuclear weapons … as … Trump considers whether to renew the agreement. Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said the New START treaty benefits the […]
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“On February 1, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States was suspending its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and notified Russia and the other treaty parties that the United States would be withdrawing from the treaty in six months …. Pompeo said: ‘Russia remains in material breach of its treaty obligations not to produce, […]
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“… some 13,000 North Korean workers [were] left in Russia by October …. Some Western diplomats view Moscow’s implementation of … sanctions as overly liberal. … allowing [Pyongyang] to continue earning foreign currency and sourcing vital supplies in Russia and undermining U.S. attempts to strong-arm the country into giving up [WMD]. … Russian customs data show North Korea imported about […]
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“This issue brief is a joint product of the Russia Matters project and the U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism (IPNT). …. I. Introduction: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty, signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, was a profound achievement. It was the first bilateral nuclear arms control treaty […]
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“Twenty-five years ago this week, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Trilateral Statement and Annex, in which Ukraine agreed to transfer its nuclear stockpile to Russia. In exchange, Ukraine received compensation for the value of the highly enriched uranium in the nuclear warheads, assistance in eliminating the strategic delivery systems on its territory, and security assurances from the […]
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“Russia made a last-ditch effort … to counter U.S. accusations that it was in violation of a Cold War-era nuclear missile treaty, showing foreign diplomats some of a disputed missile’s hardware and divulging its purported capabilities. The U.S. has given Russia until early February to comply with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, threatening to otherwise suspend its obligations under the […]
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“A recent Sunday New York Times editorial bemoaned the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed 31 years ago last month by Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan. The treaty, as the Times correctly notes, “eliminated an entire class of weapons, some 2,692 ground-based missiles that can fly in the […]
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