Top Missile Designer Says Russia's Covered

In a rare news conference, the designer of Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles dismissed on Thursday a warning that Russia was falling behind the United States in the number of active nuclear warheads it has and said his Topol-M and Bulava missiles would serve as a sufficient deterrent until at least 2040.

"I assure you that the number of active warheads the strategic nuclear forces will have in 2015 and even in 2020 will be no less than 2,000," said Yury Solomonov, head and chief designer at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, Russia's leading designer of intercontinental missiles.

Solomonov's assertion came in response to speculation in analytical circles that the number of Topol-Ms commissioned every year would have to be quadrupled to leave Russia with 1,700 operational warheads by 2012.

President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush signed the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty in 2002, which requires both sides to cut their nuclear arsenals to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads by 2012.

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