Ex-Russian general warns of Russia's anti-missile deficiency

Russia's air defense system has been insufficient for protecting the country against a possible missile attack, a retired Russian general said Wednesday. "The airspace forces protect only the Moscow region," said Viktor Yesin, former Chief of Staff of the Russian Strategic Missile Troops. Yesin, a retired colonel general, made the warning on the presentation of a book titled "Anti-Missile Defense: Confrontation or Cooperation?" He said currently deployed Russian anti-missile umbrella covers only a 150-km zone around Moscow and is capable to intercept only several dozens of incoming warheads, while the rest of the country remains unprotected. The expert also criticized the Defense Ministry for "inadequate" approach to the problem and called on the newly appointed chief of staff to rethink the plans of air defense building. "The most disturbing factor is a lack of a coherent informational and reconnaissance system," he said, adding that, in his opinion, all Russia's territory must be protected from a possible nuclear strike. In line with the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty signed by Moscow and Washington in 1972, the two sides agreed to maintain only one ABM deployment area in each country: the Moscow region in Russia and the Grand Forks Air Force Base in the United States. However, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty in 2002.