Russia will retain nuclear parity in the long-term perspective vis-a-vis the US as well as other nuclear weapons states, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said today. ‘‘In a long historical perspective, nuclear parity will be preserved not only with the US but also with the other countries with nuclear arms.I have no doubt about that,’’ Ivanov was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. ‘‘I have in mind not so much the number of nuclear warheads and missiles, but the quality of the modern technologies. We are talking about the capabilities such as strategic range of the warhead, high-precision and deep maneuvering,’’ he said.Earlier in the day, Ivanov watched the test of the next-generation mobile nuclear strategic Topol-M missile from a mobile launching pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in the Arkhangelsk region. The missile, an improved version of its predecessor, the Topol missile, is expected to be deployed soon. With its warhead, the Topol-M missile is 22.7 m long, has a 1.95 m diameter, a 47.2 metric ton launch weight, a 1.2 metric ton payload and a range of more than 10,000 km.
