Russia Eyeing N-Arms, Cia Says Greater Nuclear Reliance To Cut Cost Of Forces

Russian leaders are debating whether to increase reliance on nuclear weapons to deter attacks from neighboring nations, enabling Russia to make further cuts in its large and costly standing army, navy and air force, according to the CIA.

“A number of Russian observers advocate placing greater reliance on nuclear weapons to compensate for the deficiencies of (Moscow’s) conventional forces,” the CIA told Congress in material released last week by the Senate intelligence committee. Some Russian officials, the agency added, even “have called for developing first-use and limited-use nuclear options to prevent a regional conflict from expanding into a broader war.”

The new Russian military doctrine had been expected to be approved last May by President Boris Yeltsin, but a senior U.S. official said last week that it is “still under active debate.”

A senior administration foreign-policy official this weekend described the potential movement within the Russian government toward greater reliance on nuclear weapons as “a serious downside of NATO enlargement” that is not getting a hearing before U.S. policymakers and the public.

With little publicity, Moscow in 1993 adopted what was described as a transitional military doctrine that eliminated a “no first use” pledge on nuclear weapons and restructured the Russian military into a mobile force with a strategic reserve capable of handling “local and regional wars along Russia’s periphery,” according to the agency.

The State Department, in describing its view of Moscow’s 1993 doctrine to the Senate panel, said the Russian government described any future conventional attack against its nuclear forces or early-warning systems “as tantamount to a crossing of the nuclear threshold,” according to the committee materials.

Most Russian tactical weapons are in storage but could be redeployed to front-line forces within a matter of months, the department said.