Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev declared the decision to keep three regiments of the 28th missile division in Kozelsk. But it emerged that the military set to disbanding Tatishchev division armed with similar missiles instead of Kozelsk one.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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The Double Asymmetrical Response
In his annual address to the Federal Assembly, President Dmitry Medvedev declared the decision to keep three regiments of the 28th missile division in Kozelsk. In the West, they viewed it as the revival of cold war epoch. But it emerged that the military set to disbanding Tatishchev division armed with similar missiles instead of Kozelsk one.
Dmitry Medvedev stole the show November 5 by announcing the decision to retain three regiments of Kozelsk missiles division armed with the six-war head UR-100NUTTHs. In the West, they viewed the statement coupled with the promise to deploy Iskander missiles as a decisive response to the U.S. plan to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
But shortly before the president’s message to the Federal Assembly, the military had disbanded the 10th regiment armed by UR-100s in Svetly, where the Tatishchev division is stationed. The unnoticed reduction of previously intact division started in time of demonstrative perseverance of its counterpart in Kozelsk.
The choice is easy to explain. The technical resource of UR-100 expires by 2010, while the Kozelsk regiments will get 30 dry missiles that have never been fueled before. Those missiles that will arrive from the last emergency arsenal were bought out from Ukraine in early 2000s and form a combat set for three regiments (10 missiles for each). Their service life extends till 2018 to 2020.
And last but not least, according to military expects, exactly these missile could be used for the installation of newest hypersonic maneuver combat parts, which are another military response of Russia to the U.S. missile defense shield.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 28, 2008
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