By Vladimir Isachenkov
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999; 3:01 p.m. EST

MOSCOW –– With saber-rattling reminiscent of the Cold War, Russia's military has been making a rare show of its nuclear forces as Moscow denounces U.S. calls to amend a key nuclear arms limitation treaty.

In recent days, the military staged a well-publicized firing of an anti-missile rocket, talked of putting multiple warheads on missiles capable of reaching the United States and acquired more strategic bombers.

The moves are widely seen as a reaction to Washington's call to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to allow both nations defenses against limited nuclear attacks by other states. Russian leaders say the U.S. move could unravel decades of nuclear arms control and push the world into a new arms race.

Russian leader Boris Yeltsin said in a recent letter to President Clinton that the U.S. plan would have "extremely dangerous consequences for the entire disarmament process."

To underline the political protests, the Russian military fired an interceptor missile designed to knock down ballistic missiles – the first such test in years.

Col. Gen. Vladimir Yakovlev, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces chief, said Tuesday's test confirmed that the weapon remains combat-ready.

"This test is a reminder that Russia has an operational missile defense system," said Ivan Safranchuk, an analyst with the PIR-Center for Policy Studies in Russia, an independent think tank. "And there is also an underlying statement that Russia may also decide to modernize it."

Yakovlev hinted at that, saying the test must be viewed in the context of Russia's "possible symmetrical and asymmetrical response" to U.S. calls to amend the ABM treaty.

The Russian missile is one of dozens deployed around Moscow in accordance with the treaty.

The treaty allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to protect two areas with interceptor missiles, a subsequent protocol limiting it to one. It banned the further development of such defenses on the assumption that fear of mutual destruction would stop either side from launching a nuclear attack.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said Russia's announcement that it had tested an anti-missile interceptor did not necessarily signal further strain in U.S.-Russian relations. Cohen said the test – which he said he could not confirm took place – would only underline that Russia has long had an ABM system to protect Moscow while the United States has none.

"I'm not sure what point they were trying to make," Cohen said.

Washington says it wants to amend the ABM treaty to allow both nations to defend themselves from possible nuclear attacks by "rogue" nations such as North Korea. It has insisted that such systems would be small and not capable of providing a shield against a massive missile attack like Russia can launch.

In Moscow, the argument is viewed with suspicion as the first step in undoing all nuclear arms control treaties. Moscow believes it must keep its nuclear forces effective because they are Russia's main claim to be seen as a world power.

Moscow fears that Washington may develop defenses that could defeat a Russian nuclear attack, making their atomic forces useless. Russia, with its economy and military in tatters, has no way of developing major new defenses.

The military tacitly acknowledges that, and says their likely response to any breech of the ABM treaty would be to fit multiple nuclear warheads to its new Topol-M missiles. Topol-Ms currently carry just one warhead each, in line with the START II treaty.

This week, the Russian military was playing up its latest deployment of Topols, expected to enter front-line service by December. With multiple warheads, the Topol would be able to easily penetrate U.S. missile defenses, military officials claimed.

"The history of weapons suggests that the shield is always weaker than a sword," Yakovlev said sardonically in a recent interview.

And in another highly publicized move, Russia said it would acquire 11 Soviet-built strategic heavy bombers from Ukraine. All the bombers can carry nuclear cruise missiles, and eight are supersonic Tu-160s, the Soviet equivalent of the U.S. B-1 bomber.

Russia now has just six Tu-160s, and the deal significantly increases the air force's nuclear strike capability. The first two bombers, a Tu-160 and a Tu-95, were to fly to Russia on Friday.

Yeltsin agreed in June to Clinton's proposal to discuss amendments to the ABM treaty, but the talks have made no progress.

"It could be that Russia is trying to take a tough line to later bargain for some concessions," said Safranchuk, the military analyst.

He said Russia may want to end the ban on land-based multiple nuclear warheads and put ceilings on sea-launched missiles, which account for a sizable component of the U.S. nuclear arsenal but not Russia's.