Russia Views U.S. Mini-Nuke Research as Threat, Experts Say

["Gerry Blackwood" <gpblackwood@HOTMAIL.COM>]

{Major problem here with the upcoming Prepcom (NPT) sessions in NYC in May}





Russia Views U.S. “Mini-Nuke” Research as Threat, Experts Say

http://nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2004_4_22.html#BA93DA3A



By Mike Nartker

Global Security Newswire





MOSCOW — U.S. efforts to expand research into new, miniature nuclear weapons 

could lead Russia to begin contemplating similar efforts, Russian nuclear 

nonproliferation experts told Global Security Newswire here yesterday (see 

GSN, April 25, 2003).



Last year, the Bush administration persuaded Congress to overturn a U.S. ban 

on the research of miniature nuclear weapons, which are defined as having a 

yield of less than five kilotons. The administration indicated that such 

weapons, if developed, would be used against terrorists and stockpiles of 

weapons of mass destruction in hardened bunkers.



Russia, however, views the efforts to research and develop new nuclear 

weapons as a threat, said Vladimir Novikov of Russia’s Institute for 

Strategic Studies. New nuclear arms could lower the overall threshold for 

the use of nuclear weapons, Novikov said, echoing the concerns of opponents 

of new nuclear weapons research in the United States. He also said that the 

question of who would control the use of miniature nuclear weapons — be it 

the president, the National Security Council, or high-ranking generals in 

the field — was still unresolved.



In addition, Novikov said that the Bush administration’s rationale of 

potentially using miniature nuclear weapons against terrorists was “not 

understandable.” The international community would see such an action, for 

example against terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, more as an 

attack against another country and the beginning of a nuclear war, he said.



Sergei Mikhaliov of the institute questioned how the United States would 

have reacted if the Soviet Union had decided to use nuclear weapons during 

its own conflict in Afghanistan during the 1980s.



While Russia currently lacks the economic capability to begin similar 

nuclear weapons research, the experts said, the situation could change as 

the country’s economy continues to grow. If U.S. efforts move beyond the 

“theoretical” into “practical research,” then Russia might be forced to act, 

Mikhaliov said, adding that any actual U.S. tests of miniature nuclear 

weapons would be seen in Russia as a “signal” to begin serious consideration 

of its own nuclear weapons research.



The research of miniature nuclear weapons, Novikov said, “is not a difficult 

question” for Russian scientists (see GSN, Aug. 18, 2003).















Gerry Blackwood

New York, New York



"Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over, but continually 

expecting a different result."  -- Sigmund Freud



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