European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A lift is towered into a camouflaged Sib of an ss-19 ballistic missile to begin the dismantling process. The military has been slow to remove nuclear weapons in both Russia and Ukraine. Moscow maintains nuclear might Japan s demand for the return of the Kurile islands a reflected a  the time had come to draw the line against concessions to former adversaries. At Home torn by the breakup of the soviet Union into forces with conflicting missions and loyalties Many officers deplore the collapse of the superpower they served and do not accept its dismantling As final. The Hammer and sickle still adorn the military s Seal just As the Empire mentality prevails. Quot you can forgive Yeltsin our pauper s pay the destroyed health of our wives and children our eviction from warm houses virtually into open Fields Quot said a senior officer recently withdrawn from the Baltic. Quot but we cannot forgive that lands conquered by our fathers and grandfathers and our people living on them have been Given away for less than a Pinch of  ,1n Many regions russian troops have taken things into their own hands. With or without Moscow s Blessing they have taken sides in ethnic wars usually to prevent the regions spinning further away from Moscow or to protect the interests of some 25 million russians who have suddenly become foreigners in spinoff states. Quot there is no real civilian control Over the military today Quot Rogov said. Quot the end of 1991 saw the collapse and withering away of the soviet state and there is still no real government in Russia bureaucrats do what they like without fear. In the military itself you have a democracy of the  but nothing has demonstrated the ambivalent place of the military in Russia quite As starkly As the storming of the parliament in october. The crunch of tank treads on Moscow streets was a brutal reminder of the military s ability to decide the balance of Power in Moscow. The Quot events of october Quot also showed the generals to be far from unified in their loyalties or views. Their initial reaction when Yeltsin cracked Down on parliament Wasto shut off the defense ministry s outside Telephone lines and to declare neutrality. In the immediate aftermath the dominant reaction was Relief a that casualties had been limited that the troops had obeyed. Distributing medals and promotions defense minister Pavel s. Grachev praised the soldiers for Quot saving Russia from a tragedy that could have led to civil  but since then Many reports have emerged of vacillation in the military and of heated Midnight debates on the eve of the attack. Most startling was a recent a i interview in which Yeltsin openly accused Grachev of wavering. Quot my defense minister could t make up his mind Quot the president said. Quot there was a time of uncertainty when the troops did not arrive apparently he had been Given too much responsibility and he doubted whether die soldiers would follow his  that statement added to questions about Grachev s future. A rough Plain speaking airborne commander and Veteran of Afghanistan the 44-year-old general was propelled into the defense ministry on the strength of refusing to attack the same parliament Center during the abortive communist Putsch in August 1991. More broadly the image of an army both capable of pushing a parliament and of questioning commands was _ one Likely to haunt politicians As Long As Russia s politics remain in turmoil it it. Gen. Aleksandr i. Lebed the commander of the / 14th army in Moldova who in his outspokenness and License has become a Symbol of the army s Uncertain role was Blunt in his criticism. Quot i believe that a grandiose crime has been committed Quot he said. Quot you could do anything but not drag the army into this affair. Can you imagine the situation of the Soldier who comes Home today to Tula or Ryazan and old women spit in his face it All happened before in 1917, when the nation split into White and red. History teaches. Us . But that history taught precisely that a huge army suddenly stripped of Mission and political guidance distrusted by its people and denied sustenance would inevitably be drawn into politics. Quot the army should not be in politics of course Quot said Dmitri a to Logonov a retired general military historian. And adviser to Yeltsin Quot but it is always an instrument of state and if there is an interest to the state it must declare its . _. In its first two tests in August 1991 and in october the army ultimately rallied to Yeltsin. But with Russia s political structures Likely to be weak and chaotic for Many years the military is certain to remain a huge presence in politics and a tempting ally for political intrigues. By Michael r. Gordon the new York times. Keep in the ural mountains russian engineers Are Busy building a vast a underground command Post to use in Case a h of a nuclear War. Equipped with an a Antenna for communicating with missile a h carrying submarines and land based a Mobile missiles the Bunker will be a new part of Russia s multimillion Dollar Effort to a modernize its dwindling strategic nuclear forces. A a a a / a a a a a Russia s soldiers May miss a paycheck or two but the military is determined to maintain Russia s status As a nuclear superpower. Current efforts Are modest compared with the Heady Days of the cold War. Most of Russia s missile firing submarines Are in port and its Mobile land based missiles Are generally kept in Garrison. By and Large however Russia s nuclear forces Are Well maintained. The russian military is also developing three new missiles a silo based missile a new Mobile missile to replace its single warhead ss-25 and a new submarine launched missile. A equally important the military has changed the Way it talks about nuclear weapons. Its new doctrine drops Moscow s Long standing pledge not to strike first with nuclear weapons instead Russia reserves its right to use nuclear weapons first against nuclear states and against non nuclear states that Are in Alliance with nations that have nuclear weapons a stand interpreted As an Effort to discourage Eastern european nations from seeking admission to nato. In an agreement reached during a visit by president Clinton last month Moscow and Washington agreed not to aim their nuclear weapons at the other s country the United states and russian and a doubling of . Aid american officials say they see Russia s new doctrine on nuclear weapons As a russian View that the weapons Are needed to compensate for new weaknesses in conventional forces. But the military s attachment to nuclear weapons has a Cost. Quot if you Are spending billions on new weapons you do not have billions to get rid of old ones Quot a Clinton administration official said. While the breakup of the soviet Union has played havoc with russian conventional forces it has had a far smaller effect on Russia s nuclear deterrent. According to Western estimates there Are about 10,000 strategic nuclear warheads in the former soviet Union including about 7,000 in Russia. The russian military maintains effective control of those in Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine took Possession of 176 ss-19 and ss-24 multiple warhead missiles when the soviet Union broke up. While it had started removing 20 ss-19 missiles from their silos most of the Force had remained intact until the recent agreement. But the loyalty of the strategic rocket troops guarding the missiles was always Uncertain and it was Uncertain if the weapons would have Ever been used. The maintenance of nuclear forces in Russia and the United states has created an anomaly. While the cold War is Over both sides have thousands of nuclear weapons trained on each other. To continue bringing nuclear practices in line with political realities russian and american experts Are advocating a wide Range of Steps such As removing Large numbers of warheads from Long Range missiles. But the reductions agreed upon by the two sides should not be perceived As the final stage of the arms control process wrote Aleksei Arbatova a russian arms control specialist in a report published by the Henry l. Stimson Center a research group. On the contrary he wrote they Quot should be viewed As the first phase of a new Era in the strategic relationship Between the great Powers after the cold  in addition Ukraine which inherited nuclear weapons when the soviet Union dissolved agreed to dismantle its nuclear Arsenal in Exchange for Security guarantees fro february 2, 1994 the stars and stripes 19