From now on Russia itself will determine structure and composition of its nuclear triad

From now on Russia itself will determine the structure and composition of its nuclear triad. Such "flexibility" in forming the structure and composition of the nuclear triad will appear after signing the US-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, according to authoritative military diplomatic sources.

The sources quoted the Treaty as reading that "every party will independently determine the structure and the composition of its strategic offensive arms proceeding from the fixed aggregated limitation for the number of such weapons." The Treaty demands that the number of the above mentioned warheads should not exceed 1.7-2.2 thousand by December 31st, 2012. The sources stressed that the Treaty did not provide any other limitations such as control over strategic offensive arms cuts. They also recalled that earlier when "America was afraid of Russia" such control was obligatory.

Besides, earlier relative documents determined the number of warheads on different types of carriers - atomic submarines, strategic bombers, as well as the number of rockets with multiple warheads and monoblocks. Now Russia relies on its "military doctrine" taking into account "potential threats and current agreements", the sources say.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is of vital importance as it "reduces significantly the level of global danger" and is in itself a proof of it.