September 6, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov gave a rare television interview, for the “Vesti Podrobnosti” television program on the RTR network, discussing the recent joint military exercise with China, Russian military doctrine and policy, and long term plans for Russian strategic forces. Comments of particular interest included Ivanov’s discussion of the “geopolitical” significance of Russian military exercises with China: that the exercises represented a certain “certain qualitative shift” in relations, and that China is a “strategic partner.” Ivanov seemed to bristle at suggestions that Russia was out of line to engage in such exercises: “we are, excuse me, a sovereign state and did hold and will hold military exercises with whoever we like.”
But also of interest are his comments about Russia’s strategic nuclear forces. When asked by the interviewer about “new weapons” to be the “object of pride of the Russian armed forces,” Ivanov’s response seemed curious, and perhaps was directed less to the Russian television-watching public and more to the American defense community. Ivanov stressed in particular the importance of remarks made by President Putin “about a year ago” at the Russian launch facility at Plesetsk. The remarks referenced are likely those Putin made at Plesetsk in February 2004, in conjunction with Russia’s own, major, strategic wargames. Putin, Ivanov said, “was absolutely right when he said that every comma, every letter and every word in it had a particular significance. I still cannot expand on the matter but we are seriously working on the development of fundamentally different types of weapons, which will ensure for us reliable and guaranteed security after 60 years, after 70 years, easily.”
If it is this speech by Putin to which Ivanov referred, then he meant to underscore the revolutionary quality of the alleged maneuverable (perhaps hypersonic) warheads which could be launched by ballistic missiles, and which pose a major impediment to any American ballistic missile systems which are designed to intercept in the midcourse phase or later. Only a boost phase defense, which can destroy the launcher before it can release the maneuverable warhead or any decoys and countermeasures, could defend against such a threat. It is likely this ability in which Ivanov resides hope that Russia can maintain its offensive nuclear ability to strike the United States for the next 60 years, if the United States continues its decades-long delay of the deployment of strategic defenses.
Some excerpts from the Ivanov interview:
Presenter Dmitriy Kiselev] Good evening. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov, who extremely rarely gives extensive TV interviews, has in recent days appeared on TV screens briefly but quite frequently. The reason was the joint Russian-Chinese exercise on the Shandong Peninsula. Today we have an opportunity to speak with the Russian defence minister and not only about this.
… [Ivanov] …In recent years—I hope a lot of people have noticed this—we have been holding active exercises with many states, including the United States of America, leading NATO members, first of all France, Germany and Italy and large Asian states—India, Japan. And when the Chinese side, which, let’s be direct, unlike us, had not previously taken part in international exercises, offered this to us on a bilateral basis, we agreed readily, because, why not? All the more so since China is our largest strategic partner and we have a great deal that connects us in the spheres of politics, the economy, culture and also in military matters. In recent times, our relations with China in the security sphere have, indeed, been making progress.
…Naturally, this exercise was not aimed against anyone and, by the way, my American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, announced it was an international exercise and normal international practice.
[Presenter] Many think he is keeping up appearances when things are not good and observers note that the Russian-Chinese exercises in political and geo-political sense signify an almost tectonic shift. Do you agree with these assessments?
[Ivanov] There is a certain qualitative shift, yes. I agree. Let’s not forget that it was China and Russia, two large modern states with quite large modern armed forces. In that sense, yes.
Again, I don’t see anything terrible in this for third countries. But if third countries a priori don’t want Russia and China at all, in principle, to hold any sort of military exercises involving, say, a platoon from either side, there’s nothing we can do. But we are, excuse me, a sovereign state and did hold and will hold military exercises with whoever we like. …
[Presenter] Well, it’s clear we’re moving away from old guns. A four-year programme of rearmament is coming to an end in December. What are we approaching this milestone with? What new weapons could now be the object of pride of the Russian armed forces?
[Ivanov] Recently our TV viewers could observe with their own eyes one type of weapon. I mean the high-precision long-range cruise missile. Of course, we’re also working on other models and types of weapons and military hardware. Slowly and in limited quantities admittedly, new hardware has started to arrive in troop units and it’s new not just because of the year it was made—I’ll explain what I mean by that a bit later—but because of its quality above all.
…There are many other examples, for example, the Iskander missile system, which we are starting to buy for the armed forces. This is an operational-tactical missile system for the ground troops and it is also a high-precision weapon.
[Ivanov] …Speaking of the strategic nuclear forces, at the end of the coming year we will deploy the first regiment of mobile, and I stress, mobile Topol-M.
[Presenter] That’s what the Americans are so afraid of.
[Ivanov] No, it is not that. That’s, let’s say—
[Presenter] Still not it.
[Ivanov] Still not it.
[Presenter] So what is it they’re afraid of?
[Ivanov] As for that, the president spoke about it a year ago in Plesetsk and he was absolutely right when he said that every comma, every letter and every word in it had a particular significance. I still cannot expand on the matter but we are seriously working on the development of fundamentally different types of weapons, which will ensure for us reliable and guaranteed security after 60 years, after 70 years, easily.
[Presenter] When you talk about security in the future, one would like to ask, what about now, isn’t it guaranteed at the moment?
[Ivanov] Of course, our security is guaranteed at present as well but our task is, of course, to think about what weapons are going to be used and how the armed forces will look 20 or 30 years from now. If we don’t do this, we could stall and this would be fatal. … (Article)
» February 8, 2005: Update on February 2004 test of maneuverable warhead
» More stories on: Maneuverable Warheads, Russia
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