Word: krasnoyarsk
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...into our stores, Mikhail Sergeyevich!" shouted a woman in a crowd that surrounded Soviet Leader Gorbachev last week as he visited the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. "You'll find nothing there!" In the Soviet Union, where shortages of consumer goods are chronic, that complaint was not surprising. Nor were the criticisms voiced by Krasnoyarsk residents of housing, medical care and the Soviet bureaucracy...
Soviet scientists and cosmonauts may have left their frustrated U.S. counterparts behind for now, but Kremlin military brass are hardly breathing any easier. American military space technology still far surpasses that of the Soviets. U.S. KH-11 satellites have sent back such detailed photographs of the Soviets' Krasnoyarsk radar site in Siberia that even the recent inspection by U.S. Congressmen added little to what was known. U.S. monitoring systems follow Soviet naval ships around the world and may eventually be able to spot Soviet submarines underwater. U.S. satellites can track mobile Soviet ICBMs, and would be instrumental in verifying Moscow...
...Reagan Administration contends the station is meant to close a gap in the Soviets' early-warning radar network. To prevent longer-range tracking of missiles, the ABM treaty requires that such stations be on the perimeter of the U.S.S.R. Krasnoyarsk is 480 miles inland. This location and the type of radar under construction, says the Pentagon, would be suitable for a Soviet Star Wars system in which the station could direct interception of incoming missiles. The Soviets have claimed the radar would be used only to track satellites in deep space, which would not violate any treaties...
Battista also found Krasnoyarsk ineffective as an ABM site: it is poorly constructed and not hardened against shock waves or electromagnetic pulse effects. "If this radar were turned on today," he said, "it would be an early-warning radar -- not a very good one." Yet it cannot be switched on soon, the U.S. visitors concluded, because the facility lacks essential electronic equipment. They predicted it will take two years to complete...
Although U.S. officials could only speculate on why the Soviets put Krasnoyarsk on display, Downey noted that a "precedent has now been set about verification that cannot be undone." Still, the field trip did not answer the real question posed by the radar: Do the Soviets intend to abide by arms- control treaties...