U.S. NUCLEAR UMBRELLA MAY WRECK ALIGNMENT OF FORCES








MOSCOW, MARCH 1, 2001. /RIA NOVOSTI'S CORRESPONDENT PETER GONCHAROV/ -- Andrei Nikolayev, chairman of the defense committee at the State Duma /the lower chamber of Russia's parliament/ is sure that materialisation of the American plan to deploy a national missile defense system /US NMD/ will destroy the agreement on reducing the strategic offensive armaments /START/ "from the top and from the bottom". 


	In a bid to "pull out" the 1972 ABM treaty from the START system and unilaterally create a nuclear umbrella for itself, the United States violates the basic balance-of-forces principle -- "the sides' mutual exposure to missile strikes". 


	Simultaneously, the United States unilaterally revises the reduction threshold of strategic nuclear charges, setting it at 2,500 nuclear warheads, said the chairman of the Duma defense committee. Such an approach of the USA will unavoidably lead to a sizeable force imbalance between Russia, on one hand, and the United States, on the other, believes Andrei Nikolayev. 


	The Duma deputy stressed that added to the 2,500 nuclear warheads which the United States leaves for itself should also be the nuclear warheads of France and the United Kingdom, mounted on tactical missiles, which can reach the Russian territory.