U.S. Aid for the Russian Space Program
The Clinton-Gore administration has funneled $800 million in aid into the Russian Space Agency. The Russian Space Agency is a subsidiary of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces. The problem here is any aid given to the Russian Space Agency becomes a source of hard currency for Russia's ongoing offensive nuclear missile program. In August 1998 former NASA rocket scientist James Oberg reported that the Clinton-Gore administration has been intentionally covering up the fraud involved in the financial aid to the Russian space program.

In September of 1999 the U.S. House of Representatives voted 419 to 0 to override a Presidential veto on a bill that froze the remaining $590 million dollars in aid to the Russian Space Agency. The main motivator behind this unanimous bipartisan action was Russia's continued involvement in Iran's nuclear warhead and ballistic missile program. This $590 million is part of the original $778 million dollar aid package. NASA has also given the Russian Space Agency $4.2 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars. It is no wonder that in 1999 a bankrupt Russia was able to deploy the world's most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the TOPEL-M2 (SS-27).

Another way Russia subsidizes its Strategic Rocket Force missile program is by using military launch sites for putting foreign commercial satellites into orbit. European and American space enterprises have contracted to launch commercial satellites into orbit with Russian carrier rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian Space Agency head Yuri Kopetev said that the commercial launches will help keep the facility open. The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is the same facility used by the Russian Strategic Rocket Force for ICBM test launches. In June of 1996 Russia test-launched a new MIRVed SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from this same Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. According to Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, chief of staff of the Strategic Rocket Forces, all six dummy warheads struck their intended targets. Col. Gen.Viktor Yesin indicated that this was the 26th ICBM test in five years. And in April 1997 Russia test launched their new 10-warhead SS-18 Satan ICBM. In a news release following this launch, the Russian Strategic Rocket Force announced that the ten dummy warheads successfully struck their intended targets. By the way the "intended targets" of both the 1996 and 1997 launches were in Kamchatka, just west of Alaska, USA. The Clinton administration is silent about both these launches.

In April of 1996 Russia landed another $1 billion contract for use of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This particular deal involved a U.S.-Russian commercial space venture to launch 20 American-built Astra-F telecommunications satellites with Proton booster rockets. In November of 1998 yet another American firm contracted for 52 launches of Globalstar satellites atop a Russian Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This constitutes a very significant source of hard capital for the Russian Strategic Rocket Force.

During the initial launch the company ran into some problems with the Russian military. Military officials demanded the right to inspect any American satellites launched from Baikonur. It seemed like a great opportunity to gain intelligence on advanced American space electronics technology.

Also in 1998 the Russians came up with a way to fund the modernization of their nuclear submarine strike force. They used the strategic Delta-4 ballistic missile submarine Novomoskovsk to launch a German research satellite into orbit. The satellite launch was engineered by the Makeyev State Rocket Center. This facility continues to develop new generations of submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

According to December 1997 TASS report, the State Missiles Center (also known as the Makeyev Design Bureau) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Stalin established the State Missiles Center back in 1947 for the expressed purpose of creating a strategic rocket force. According to its director, Igor Velichko, the bureau "is continuing its work on space-missile problems. Work is underway on the next generation of ballistic missiles for submarines." The Makeyev Design Bureau is involved in both military production and "peace projects". "Peace projects" involve the cost-effective practice of using obsolete strategic missiles as commercial space-launch vehicles for Western satellites. This could be viewed as turning your swords into plow shares, but it might be more accurate to say they are making and selling these plows to subsidize the purchase of new assault riffles. The Clinton-Gore administration and the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration has promoted the Makeyev Design Bureau as a place for American companies, with taxpayer subsidies, to invest in "conversion" activity.

Why is the U.S. subsidizing the Russian Space program? An article in the May 5, 1993 edition of Aviation & Space Technology magazine covered what they called "a continuing surge in Russian space operations"… "During the first quarter of 1993, Russia launched 12 new, unmanned military spacecraft." During the same time period, the Russians also launched six purported "civilian" space missions. "The Russian military space surge began in late 1992… The 18 Russian space missions compare with eight for the U.S. during that period… The new Russian activity shows the former USSR retains a surprisingly potent military space capability." This expansion of Russian military space activity occurred during the same time that the Western media was proclaiming that the Soviet military had fallen apart. If Russia could afford to do 18 missions, most of which were military, and the U.S. could only afford 8 missions, most of which were civilian, why isn't Russia giving financial aid to the U.S. space program?

Since 1994 NASA has paid the Russian government about $400 million to cover the costs of rendezvousing with and resupplying the Mir space station. In November of 1996 the three-man Russian-American crew occupying the Mir space station got stranded in space with toilets close to overflowing. The launch of their relief and resupply crew was postponed because of financial problems that delayed production of the Soyuz booster rocket needed for the mission. On one hand the Russians say they don't have money to build Soyuz booster rockets, but on the other hand they manage to come up with all the money they need to continue modernizing their strategic missile force.

In June of 1998 House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner explained why the Russians have not closed down the Mir space station: "The Russians don't want to … close down the Mir and lose a huge source of hard currency. The reasons the Mir has been kept going five years beyond its design capability is because it is a huge foreign currency earner for Russia. And a lot of that foreign currency is dollars right out of the U.S. taxpayers' pockets."

In spite of Russia's claim that its space program is in dire need of U.S. aid, it is interesting to note that in 1996 Gen. Igor Sergeyev, commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, announced the successful test-firing of another RS-12M (Topol-M) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Plesetsk missile base. Plesetsk is the home of the SS-27 (TOPOL M-2) ICBM test facility. The Plesetsk missile facility was upgraded in 1997 by a German firm and the Germany Dresdner Bank financed $35 million of the upgrading work. Plesetsk was modernized so it could launch commercial satellites aboard modified SS-18 ICBMs.

According to a December 1997 TASS report the Topol-M "has better features and is five to six years ahead of the foreign [U.S.] missile models using solid fuel," and "Its production and service costs are much lower, whereas its ability to reach any point in the world in a few minutes meets the requirements of the treaties on the reduction of offensive weapons." In November of 1997 Moscow Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev announced to reporters that the first Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will be deployed on "combat duty" in December of 1997 at the Tatishchevo strategic missile base near Saratov. Topol-M is a three-stage, single warhead ICBM that can be deployed either in silo or on mobile launcher. Russian officials see this ICBM as five years ahead of anything in the U.S. arsenal. The Topol-M ICBM will eventually replace the obsolete missiles that are being dismantled with U.S. funds under the Nunn-Lugar program.

The Russians have also been working on a new generation submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). According to a Interfax report, in November 1997 Russia test-launched a new SS-NX-28 SLBM from the Nenoks test range near Arkhangelsk. The new missile has a range of 5,000-miles.

Despite Russia's cash woes, the Russian navy has also found the money to modernize its strategic nuclear forces aimed at the United States. According to a TASS report, on January 15 1997 the Russian navy successfully test-fired a new RSM-50 submarine-launched ballistic missile from the Barents Sea, between Murmansk and Novaya Zemlya. It traveled toward Alaska and struck down at a target range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
According to an August 1998 Interfax report, "Russia, despite its economic problems, remains the world's leading developer and producer of rocket weapons."

One little shell game tactic the Russians pulled was to merge its so-called civilian space launch bureaucracies with the Strategic Rocket Forces. According to TASS, this enabled the nuclear weapons service "to considerably increase their combat capability within the framework of Russia's strategic nuclear forces". In November of 1997 the Strategic Rocket Forces absorbed the Space Missile Defense Forces and the Military Space Forces. This merger made it easier for the Russians to shuffle U.S. funding intended for the Russia's space program. In reality, the "civilian" Russian Space Agency is a front for the Military Space Forces. One clear example of space program funding benefiting the Russian military occurred in July of 1998 when a Kosmos spy satellite was launched with a Zenit rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Again, this is the same Baikonur cosmodrome that has received so much U.S. funding and the Zenit rocket was developed in the Ukraine with the assistance of American investment capital.

In all fairness to Rasputin, we need to look at what the U.S. is doing with its strategic missile program. According to a December 1997 report from the Washington Times: "The Pentagon is developing a major strategic weapons plan to lower the alert status of U.S. nuclear forces that could lead to disarming missiles through removing their warheads"… "Critics of the strategic 'de-alert' plan within the defense and military communities say the effort could undermine the U.S. nuclear war-fighting capabilities at a time when Russia is modernizing its nuclear forces with new ICBMs, submarines and deep underground command bunkers -- all signs that Moscow has not abandoned plans to prevail in a nuclear war." One of the de-alert ideas being examined by the Clinton-Gore administration is to remove printed circuit boards from strategic missiles and place them some 500 miles from their missile silos. Curt Weldon, Chairman of the House National Security Subcommittee on Military Research voiced his opinion of this "de-alerting" plan: "For the White House to unilaterally take any action in this area is completely unacceptable and would do more to destabilize our relationship with Russia than stabilize it". Former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger also expresses unease: "My view is this should be approached very cautiously, repeat, very cautiously."

Not only is the U.S. not upgrading its offensive strategic weapons, but it is also going out of its way to limit our defensive capabilities. In October of 1998 the U.S. signed an agreement with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan updating the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. This agreement limits America's ability to defend itself against incoming nuclear missiles. A related agreement was signed in September of 1997 that imposed new limits on the America's ability to defend itself from missile attack by restricting the capabilities of theater anti-ballistic missile defenses. The Clinton administration tried to hide these limits from the Senate. The October of 1998 ABM implementation agreement appears to be a bribe by the Clinton-Gore administration to get the Communist-dominated State Duma, to ratify the START II treaty. In essence the Clinton-Gore administration committed to keeping the United States vulnerable to a Russian nuclear attack.


Russian Anti-satellite Program

In November of 1997 Boris Yeltsin condemned a U.S. anti-satellite test. Yeltsin sent a six-page letter to President Clinton that said: "We are alarmed at the U.S. military's intention to develop a whole gamut of anti-satellite weapons systems. At one time we possessed an anti-satellite capability, but we renounced it as soon as we realized the futility [of] a first-strike notion." According to a statement by a U.S defense official that appeared in a November 1997 Washington Times article by Bill Gertz, " the Yeltsin letter was typical of Moscow's past hard-line approach to arms control. They want new talks to limit our anti-satellite capabilities, while they already have the world's only system."

Take Care,

Philip L. Hoag