Although Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted last week his country is developing a new ballistic missile that could evade U.S. defenses, political experts say the announcement is a move by Putin to garner support for re-election instead of a direct threat to U.S. security.
Putin made the announcement after an annual Russian military exercise failed, according to Scott Gehlbach, assistant professor of political science at UW-Madison.
\I think both his presence at the nuclear exercises and then this announcement after the exercises were over were both part of his trying to appeal to voters that are more nationalistic,"" he said.
UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of Political Science David Tarr explained the alleged missile system would be an advanced version of an American weapon developed in the 1980s, dubbed ""Maneuverable Re-Entry Vehicles."" America designed the weapon out of a fear the Soviet Union placed such defenses throughout the country. A single projectile could be launched, which could release four to five different warheads when it reached its target, making it increasingly difficult for the enemy to destroy the missiles.
Although Putin said the missiles could outwit U.S. defenses, Tarr said the defenses are not intended to defend against long-range ballistic warheads, but rather a ""low trajectory missile."" He also said it is unlikely the supposedly newly developed Russian missiles will have any impact on America.
""The likelihood that the Russians would aim their missiles at the United States for any strategic military purpose is a remote idea,"" he said. ""The U.S. and Russia are not enemies.""
The United States has been very concerned with Russian nuclear missiles landing in terrorists' hands since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. However, Gehlbach downplayed the possibility of any type of intercontinental missiles finding their way out of the country.
""We've worried about nuclear proliferation from Russia to a great extent over the last 10 years ... as far as I know there's no strong evidence that Russian nuclear technology has leaked out of Russia,"" he said.
Although Putin faces re-election next month, Mark Beissinger, chair of UW-Madison's political science department, did not believe Putin made this revelation to cover up the recent military failures, mainly because Putin is a widely popular figure who is not in serious jeopardy of losing his job.
""He tries to maintain his image as a state builder, who is going to restore Russia's greatness as a power,"" he explained, ""and there's no better symbol of that than nuclear missiles.\
