November 10, 2005 :: Xinhua :: News
In a meeting with top military commanders and President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov declared that Russia maintains adequate nuclear deterrent capabilities with its strategic forces. Russia’s nuclear forces “are still able not only to secure deterrence of an aggression against our country and its allies, but also guarantee an adequate answer to any aggressor,” Ivanov was cited by the Itar-Tass as saying.
“The level of preparedness at the present time has allowed making several successful launches from positional areas, air and sea missile carriers. Early warning systems have timely detected all launches of Russian and foreign inter-continental ballistic missiles and carrier rockets,” Ivanov said.
Ivanov also noted that the Russian army and navy presently number 1,134,800 officers and men, and that this number will be reduced to 1,100,000 men by 2011. He further noted that six new intercontinental range missiles would be delivered in 2006—probably referring to Topol-M missiles. (Article)
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