Yabloko Party Vice Chairman: General Staff preparing for global nuclear war

The presentations yesterday by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov at a conference devoted to questions of developing and modernizing the military shows the disjointedness of military and political plans and technical aspects of conducting military reform, said Vice Chairman for the State Duma Defence Committee and Vice Chairman of the Yabloko political party Alexey Arbatov today, according to the Yabloko press service. He said that 'political, military-political and technical plans are not in synch and even contradict one another.'

Arbatov also said that the political aspects of Putin's speech, specifically where Putin proposes a type of military reform that is independent of a small group of specialists, corresponds to the necessary requirements of the day.'

In regard to Ivanov's report on questions of military -political questions, Arbatov pointed to the resounding conclusions that there is no present threat to Russia's security from current military powers or military alliances and the significantly reduced role and priority for Russia of opposing the US and its allies. He also said that it was stated several times that the military together with its special subunits must prepare for new types of localized anti-partisan and counterterrorist operations.

At the same time, Arbatov believes that the purely military aspect of Ivanov's report was prepared under the authority of the General Staff and contradicts everything said previously. 'We have already heard this type of thing 10 and 20 years ago,' said Arbatov. Arbatov said that of everything that was said without a doubt it is clear that just as before the main threat to Russia is considered to be the US and NATO. The General Staff is predicting a global nuclear war and anticipating large-scale military activity, said Arbatov. Therefore, Arbatov doubts the statement of the General Staff about the advancement of military reforms. In reality, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before military reforms can move forward.