World News Blog

Friday, November 07, 2008

Is Russia testing incoming Obama administration

The United States is making overtures to Russia with the START nuclear disarmament treaty due to expire in December 2009, and new moves by Moscow in response to the NATO missile defense shield.

Russia is moving short-range ballistic missiles into its western border regions in response to NATO's anti-ballistic missile system in Polish and Czech territory.

Straits Times

US Sends Russia Proposals
Wall Street Journal - 2 hours ago
By JAY SOLOMON WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration sent Russia proposals aimed at revising a nuclear-disarmament agreement and assuaging Moscow's growing opposition to a US missile-defense system for Europe, according to senior American officials.

Video: Russian Missile Move Challenge to Obama? AssociatedPress
US Makes New Proposals to Russia on Missile Defense, Strategic Arms Voice of America

Straits Times

How Tough-Talking Russia Sees Obama
U.S. News & World Report, DC - 1 hour ago
The relationship between Russia and the United States, despite the fiery rhetoric, is ambiguous. Trade between the countries is healthy, and cooperation in ...
Video: Russia hopes to avoid arms race RussiaToday
EU "deeply concerned" about Russia missile threat International Herald Tribune

Labels: anti-ballistic missiles, barack obama, russia, short-range ballistic missiles, start treaty

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Russia tests ballistic missiles

Russia conducted tests of land and submarine-based ballistic missiles on Saturday and Sunday in an obvious signal to the West.

The Topol ICBM was launched from the taiga forests of Russia's north and landed thousands of miles away in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The submarine launches took place in the Barents Sea and in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Barents Sea test missile landed 7,100 miles away in the equatorial Pacific.

New versions of the Topol are said by Russian officials to be capable of penetrating anti-ballistic missile defenses, an allusion to the new NATO systems scheduled for installation near Russia's European borders.

Voice of America

Russia in fresh missile launches
BBC News, UK - 5 hours ago
President Dmitri Medvedev, who watched two of the launches, said they proved Russia's missile defences were strong. Two new systems were being developed, ...
Russia Tests Intercontinental Missiles Voice of America
Russian missile makes record flight The Associated Press
Russia's Medvedev test fires long-range missile Reuters

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, speaks with Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, as they stand in front of a transporter with a mobile version of Topol intercontinental ballistic missile before it's launch at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. Medvedev watched a missile soar from Russia's rain-soaked northern forests toward a target thousands of kilometers away on Sunday, capping a weekend of launches reminding audiences at home and abroad about the country's nuclear might. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service) (AP/Dmitry Astakhov)

Russia conducts ballistic missile tests (AFP/Christ

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (L), Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov (C) and Defence Minister Anatoli Serdyukov visit cosmodrome Plesetsk, which is nestled among the taiga forests of Russia's north, October 12, 2008. Medvedev oversaw the test firing of an intercontinental truck-mounted Topol missile on Sunday and vowed to commission new generation weapons for Russia's armed forces. REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Dmitry Astakhov (RUSSIA)

Key facts on the Bulava ballistic missile, which Russia test-fired in September 2008. Russia test-fired three long-range missiles and pronounced its nuclear deterrent strong in a show of force that experts said had not been seen the days of the Cold War.(AFP Graphic)

Labels: anti-ballistic missiles, ballistic missile tests, bulava missile, nuclear submarines, russia, topol icbm