- MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russia has added 10 new intercontinental ballistic missiles
to its nuclear arsenal, the first deployment of a long-term project to
modernize its nuclear weaponry.
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- Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev
inaugurated the first batch of the Topol-M missile in the Russia's Saratov
region over the weekend, declaring it ready for combat.
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- "It's a weapon for the 21st century,"
he said. "It has a lot of capabilities that make it a weapon for
the future."
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- The single-warhead missile is designed
to replace heavier, silo-based multiple-warhead missiles. The Topol-M
is lightweight and mobile, with a reported range of 6,200 miles (10,000
kilometers). More than 40 are set to be built by the end of 2000.
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- Analysts say the timing of the deployment,
while Russia suffers from the worst economic crisis since the fall of the
Soviet Union, highlights Moscow's interest in maintaining its nuclear strength
even though it lacks the money to beef up its conventional forces.
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- According to Russian officials, the Topol-M
is 'a weapon for the 21st century.' "There is a belief that only
strategic nuclear forces keep Russia in the club of great nations,"
said military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.
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- Russia's parliament is drafting a bill
that would guarantee funding to strategic missile forces until 2010, regardless
of the country's economic situation.
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- However, funding for the missile has
not assured salaries for those who build it. The workers who manufactured
the first Topol-Ms are still owed more than $1 million in back wages.
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