NewsMax.com
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001

According to the Times of London:

A key political adviser to President Valdimir Putin is putting out the word on his Internet site that Russia is prepared to spend whatever it takes to develop intercontinental nuclear missiles capable of penetrating any "Son of Star Wars" missile defense the United States may construct.

That would mean violating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but Russia has already said it will consider any U.S. missile defense a repudiation of that pact, which held the two superpowers at bay for half a century.

The financial strain on Russia, already strapped for capital, its economy in shambles and much of its military personnel going unpaid, would be enormous – $132 billion over the next 10 years.

That would equate to 5 percent of its gross domestic product.

While that pales in comparison with the $310 billion in the U.S. defense budget for just this year alone, it would nonetheless skyrocket Russian military spending back to the Cold War level.

This projected Russian outlay would be enough to fund not only the kind of missile initiative Putin is contemplating but also the troop commitments he has already demanded.

Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary in the new administration of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, has called for an anti-missile shield stronger than the failed system planned by former President Bill Clinton but less-elaborate than the Star Wars global defense net advocated by Ronald Reagan when he was president.

The two most-practical ways for Russia to penetrate a Rumsfeld-type shield are to equip its latest Topol M long-range missiles with multiple warheads or build a new generation of intercontinental weapons to replace its aging SS-18 Satan rockets.

Rumsfeld is certain to encounter even greater congressional opposition to his plan if Russian threats to build missiles that could pierce the American shield become reality.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Russia
Missile Defense