SAROV, Nizhny Novgorod Region, November 1 (AVN) -- Former secretary of the Russian presidential Security Council Andrei Kokoshin on Monday made a sensation by suggesting abolition of international control over nuclear containment forces.
Kokoshin stated his proposal at a meeting with scientists of the Arzamas-16 nuclear centre, which was devoted to his vision of Russia's new nuclear concept.
Kokoshin stressed a special role of nuclear weapons for Russia's secutity, especially when, on one hand, military and political situation in the world is getting worse and, on the other hand, Russia faces extermely serious economic problems, which hamper development of its conditional forces.
Taking into account these circumstances, Russia should base its nuclear strategy on flexibility and multitude of variants of use of nuclear weapons in case its vital interests are at stake, Kokoshin said. At the same time, it should reject all limitation on the use of nuclear weapons againts both nuclear and non-nuclear states, he added.
Kokoshin called to secure independence of Russia' nuclear containment potential, including the nuclear attack warning system and means of strategic intelligence. According to him, this potential should comprise all the country's nuclear weapons, as well as warning, control and intelligence systems.
"Operative management should be within the competence of the Russian General Staff, and control in the competence of the Security Council," Kokoshin said.