Russia fires missiles, Medvedev says strategic defences 'in order'
RUSSIA: Russia fired three long-range missiles Sunday and pronounced
its nuclear deterrent strong in an extraordinary show of force experts
said had not been seen anywhere since the days of the Cold War.
Two of the missiles were fired from nuclear submarines in the Asian
and European extremes of the sprawling country while a third was watched
by President Dmitry Medvedev on land in northwest Russia, news agencies
reported.
It was the second Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
test in as many days and the latest in a series of high-profile military
exercises of conventional land, sea and air forces as well as strategic
nuclear units.
"This shows that our deterrent is in order," Medvedev was quoted by
RIA Novosti news agency as saying after Sunday's missile launches.
"We will of course be introducing new types of forces and means into
the military," he added, without elaborating.
Independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the exercises
reflected Russia's determination to prepare for major military conflict.
"This was a dry run for a war with the United States," Felgenhauer
said of the missile launches, part of major military manoeuvres billed
"Stability 2008" involving all military branches.
"These are the biggest strategic war games in more than 20 years.
They are on a parellel with those held in the first half of the 1980s.
Nothing of the sort has been seen either in Russia or the United States
since then," he said.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo confirmed the near-simultaneous
ICBM test-launches from submarines in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan
and the Barents Sea northeast of Norway, saying they had been planned
well in advance.
Speaking to AFP from northwest Russia, Dygalo admitted it was unusual
for the navy to conduct three ICBM test launches in two days a submarine
in the Barents Sea also fired a missile Saturday and called the tests
successful.
"The missiles hit right on target," he said. News agencies said the
missiles launched from the Barents Sea and the secret base at Plesetsk
hit targets on the Kamchatka peninsula thousands of kilometres (miles)
to the east.
The missile fired from the Sea of Okhotsk hit on target near Kanin
Nos, a finger of land jutting into the White Sea in extreme northwest
Russia, the reports said.
Moscow, Monday, AFP
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