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Russian expert says US plans to modernize nuclear weapons "logical"
Interfax

Moscow, 20 February: Sergey Markov, the director of the Political Research Institute, has described as logical the possible wish of the USA to create a new generation of nuclear weapons, particularly weapons capable of destroying stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons of so-called rogue states.

The Guardian on Wednesday [20 February] reported that the Bush administration will convene a secret meeting in August to consider the creation of a new generation of nuclear weapons which would require that the US withdraw from global arms control treaties and the moratorium on nuclear tests.

Meanwhile, Markov told Interfax that "the evolution of weapon systems towards powerful high-precision tactical systems is inevitable". He described as an ideal version of such systems one capable of causing a nuclear strike limited to the size of a room.

"We are entering a new world in which new realities appear, and it is natural that the Americans, as the leaders in this transition period, who tend to look around less than anyone else, are proceeding ahead of everyone," Markov said.

As for Russia, it should "stay wise in this situation and, together with the Americans, create a system that would be capable of addressing the challenges of the modern world without breaking what has been achieved in the sphere of international law".

It is only within the framework of this law that a new generation of weapons should be developed, the political expert said, noting that Russia at one time lost control of this process, leaving America to break the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty instead of transforming it.

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