
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993                   TAG: 9311040100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

RUSSIA DROPS PLEDGE NOT TO USE NUKES FIRST

In an apparent reversal of a Soviet pledge never to be the first to use nuclear weapons, a senior Russian military official said Wednesday that Russia may use nuclear arms to repulse a non-nuclear attack.

Russia considers no country its enemy, believes that local conflicts and nuclear proliferation now pose the greatest security threats, and will not use force except to defend itself or its allies, said Valery Manilov, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, in announcing Russia's first post-Cold War military doctrine.

"Russia reconfirms its principle of non-use of nuclear weapons against any state except in cases when nuclear or non-nuclear allied forces would lead an aggression against Russia," Manilov said, adding that the new doctrine is "in complete accord with the world practices" of the United States, Great Britain and France.

Former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev made the no-first-use pledge at the United Nations in June 1982, at a time when the Soviet Union was believed to have an overwhelming advantage over NATO in conventional forces and could easily repel any non-nuclear attack.

The United States, with a vastly smaller army, then and since has refused to make a similar promise. This gave the Soviets a leg up in the propaganda war, but most Western analysts considered the pledge a public relations gimmick.

With the Russian army demoralized, impoverished and in disarray, the no-first-use principle may now be seen as a luxury Russia can no longer afford, said nuclear weapons expert Bruce Blair of the Brookings Institution.

Adoption of the doctrine appeared to reflect the army's strengthened political position after Oct. 4, when troops loyal to Yeltsin quashed a hard-line revolt and helped keep him in office. Immediately afterward, Yeltsin picked Defense Minister Pavel Grachev's draft doctrine and rejected a competing draft as the basis for this week's final decision.

Grachev was in an expansive mood Wednesday as he described the new policy for Russian and foreign journalists. He spoke against NATO accepting any new members and said he favors keeping Russian troops in Latvia and Estonia until they guarantee the rights of their Russian-speaking minorities.

Russian military officials have hinted they are concerned about their ability to repulse a possible Chinese invasion without nuclear arms - even though relations between Russia and China have grown quite warm of late.

by CNB