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Russia replaces missile forces chief: Kremlin

We are not Russia's enemy, says new NATO chief
NATO must convince the Russian people that the military alliance is not their enemy, the organisation's new chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday, saying he did not want disagreements to poison ties. In a press conference on his first day as secretary general, the former Danish prime minister said he wanted to oversee the development of a "true strategic partnership" during his four-year term at the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after a period of turbulence. "I believe that during my term, we should develop a true strategic partnership. We should enhance practical cooperation in areas where we share security interests," he added, citing counter-terrorism, Afghanistan, piracy, and nuclear non-proliferation. He said he regarded it as "a very important challenge to convince the Russian people and the Russian political leadership that NATO is really not an enemy of Russia, that NATO is not directed against Russia." Ties between Moscow and the alliance were badly damaged by a brief war between Russia and Georgia in August last year although the two sides agreed in June to resume political and military cooperation. Rasmussen said that the war in Georgia had had "a very negative impact" and that "real differences" remained over the issue. "Now, I'm not a dreamer, there will be fundamental issues on which we will disagree. We have to insist, for example, that Russia fully complies with its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and political freedom of its neighbours," he said. "But we cannot let our areas of dispute poison the whole relationship," he added.
by Staff Writers
 Moscow (AFP) Aug 3, 2009
 President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday replaced the head of Russia's missile forces, the Kremlin said, after a series of embarrassing failed test-firings of a major new weapon.

Medvedev issued a decree ordering the replacement of General Nikolai Solovtsov by General Andrei Shvaichenko as commander of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces.

"With this decree Nikolai Solovtsov is freed from his duties as head of the missile forces and discharged from military service," the Kremlin said in a statement.

No reason was given for the change. Shvaichenko was until now a deputy commander at the missile forces while Solovtsov had served in his post since April 2001.

The Interfax news agency quoted an informed source as saying that Solovtsov had asked to be discharged from military service as he had now passed the usual military retirement age of 60.

It said he had already received a one-year extension after reaching the age of 60 in January.

But the missile forces have also been embarrassed by a series of failed test-firings of the new submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental missile, which has been touted as the pride of Russia's revamped military.

The latest test-firing on July 16 ended with the missile blowing up in the first phase and the Bulava has now reportedly failed on six of its 11 test-firings.

The Bulava is the standard-bearing project for the Russian military which is seeking to replace old Soviet-era warhorse missiles with more modern models as part of a major military reform.

The problems with Bulava also come amid delicate negotiations between Russia and the United States aiming to renew by the end of the year the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on reducing nuclear arms.

A declaration signed by Medvedev and US President Barack Obama at their summit last month called for a reduction in the number of nuclear warheads in Russian and US arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years.

Solovtsov said on June 10 he believed it would be wrong to go below 1,500 warheads even though the decision was up "to the country's political leadership."

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NUKEWARS
Pakistan hits out at 'detrimental' Indian nuclear sub
 Islamabad (AFP) July 28, 2009
 Pakistan hit out at India on Tuesday, branding its first nuclear-powered submarine "detrimental" to regional peace and vowing to take "appropriate steps" to maintain a "strategic balance". Relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have plummeted since Islamist gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai last November, attacks that New Delhi blamed on banned Pakistani group ... read more






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