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Russian experts call for cut in number of nuclear warheads in high readiness
Russian AVN Military News Agency

Moscow, 31 October: Russia and the United States have 6,000 strategic weapons each, a report entitled "Reduction of combat readiness of Russian and US nuclear forces is a way to step down nuclear threat" says.

The report was elaborated by the armament non-proliferation and reduction sector of the Political and Military Forecast Centre under the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Global Economy and International Relations.

A deputy director of the institute, Vladimir Baranovskiy, a co-author of the report, said a major share of nuclear munitions was permanently in a high degree of combat readiness. It means that Russian and US intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can be launched several minutes after the order, and ballistic missiles deployed on patrolling submarines 15 minutes after the order. The total number of Russian and US warheads in a high degree of combat readiness makes 3,500 to 4,000.

The report's authors believe that stepping up combat readiness of strategic nuclear forces and extending the term of nuclear strike authorization is the most obvious way of preventing a mistake or incorrect interpretation of data from missile launch early warning systems. Reduction of combat readiness would also contribute to the strategic nuclear weapons cut without affecting the containment potential, Baranovskiy stressed.

The report will soon be forwarded to Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and George W. Bush of the United States, as well as to interested federal and legislative bodies of the two nations. The research director of the Strategic Nuclear Forces Centre under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Dvorkin, told Interfax-Military News Agency that "a consolidated agreement and decision of all nuclear nations, not only Russia and the United States" would be a real contribution to the problem's solution.

The parties have even discussed the possibility of reducing the number of Russian and US nuclear warheads in a high-degree of combat readiness to 300 to 350 units, as in the inventory of France, Great Britain and China, Dvorkin said. "This measure is possible, but it will have no effect on theoretical risks of accidental launchers if a part of nuclear missiles is in the combat-ready mode," he said. "The making of such consolidated decision is possible as a small step towards strengthening of general trust, but it will not have a serious effect at once," Dvorkin stressed.

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