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A new ABM proposal promises protection from asteroid strikes as
well as missiles, according to Russia’s ambassador to Nato.
Star Wars revisited: Strategic Defence of
Earth echoes Reagan’s SDI plan. Source: AP
Having failed to extract a legal guarantee from
the US that its Europe-based ABM (anti-ballistic missile)
facilities are not directed against Russian nuclear forces,
Russia is hoping to overcome its fears with a bold new plan.
The newspaper Kommersant has learnt that a missile initiative –
code-named Strategic Defence of Earth , recalling the
Reagan-era Strategic Defence Initiative – is being discussed in
Moscow. The project proposes a joint system involving the US
and Nato and is designed to protect the whole planet against
not only missiles, but also asteroids, debris from comets and
other threats from outer space.
According to Kommersant sources, the idea was put forward by
Dmitry Rogozin. P resident Medvedev’s special representative on
anti-missile defence policy, Mr Rogozin is also Russia’s
permanent ambassador to Nato.
The proposals are said to be reminiscent of the American Star
Wars project, in that the system would monitor the space around
the Earth and have striking capabilities to destroy any
threatening objects as they approach.
“Currently, the US missile defence system is aimed exclusively
at protecting the country against missiles launched from
somewhere in the Middle East,” said a diplomat close to the
project. The new plan involves bringing together air,
missile and space defence.”
A Kommersant source added: “Missile defence is currently being
promoted by Washington as a configuration just to solve the
global problem of shielding America and its allies against
missile threats. Our concept offers them an even more global
challenge: to save the world. And it won’t be alone, but
together with us.
“There is already an archetype for this in American
culture. Remember the movie Armageddon , where Bruce
Willis saves the Earth along with the Russian [cosmonaut]
Lev Andropov, who hangs around the universe in a trapper
hat with a wrench and a bottle of vodka. ”
One of the key elements of the Russian proposal,
according to Kommersant ’s sources, is to put the new
space defence system under the control of the United
Nations. If adopted, the system would certainly resolve
Moscow’s concerns about the Euro-ABM system. But experts
believe that Russia’s new venture has little chance of
changing the course of negotiations with Washington over
missile defence.
“This approach has the right to exist. But it does not
affect the other ABMs America is currently building in
Europe,” Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal
Russia in Global Affairs , told Kommersant .
According to the newspaper, the concept has been
presented to President Dmitry Medvedev. After reading the
document, the president is said to have written the word
“interesting” on it. He has instructed Dmitry Rogozin and
foreign policy presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko to
refine the proposals.
Mr Prikhodko was unavailable for comment, while Dmitry
Rogozin declined to speak to Kommersant .
Mr Medvedev’s interest in the initiative comes as no
surprise to one expert, who claims that “Dmitry Medvedev
likes different innovations. The bolder and more creative
the idea, the better chances it has of pleasing the
president.”
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