Moscow
Russia is developing a new type of nuclear weapon, “not possessed by any country in the world,” Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said this week. The vague statement echoed one by President Vladimir Putin last fall. Military experts told Radio Free Europe that the boast could be a reference to technology that the Soviet Union began developing in the 1980s, in response to President Reagan’s missile defense program. At the time, the Soviets were working on a missile that could steer itself after it re-entered the atmosphere. Such a self-propelled missile would only be necessary against an enemy that had a missile defense system. President Bush revived the Reagan “Star Wars” program in his first term.
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