RUSSIA: NATIONAL SECURITY SUFFERING DUE TO FINANCIAL CRISIS

Описание: (16 Dec 1996) Russian/Nat

Russia's defences are down, and it's not just the soldiers but national security that appears to be suffering.

The country's early warning system - a complex set of satellite monitors that detect missile attacks in advance - is in disrepair and almost obsolete.

Once a necessity during the Cold War, the early warning system has become yet another casualty of Russia's financial crisis.

With workers at the satellite base unpaid for months and no repairs or updating in years, defence officials fear the entire system will be shut down, making Russia a sitting duck for a nuclear attack.

Here at a secret location somewhere in the Moscow region, is an important element of Russia's national security.

The military check-points remain, but otherwise the entire operation - like the rest of Russia's military - seems to have been forgotten.

Built some 25 years ago, the early warning system once stood at the pinnacle of Soviet technology and was a crucial part of the country's defence mechanism against American missile attacks.

Now the system is so antiquated it faces closure or a complete overhaul - neither of which the government can afford.

A once proud player in the Soviet war machine, the early warning system has become a beggar and a pauper.

Salaries haven't been paid in months, and officers can't remember the last time repairs were made or equipment was updated.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Our pain, our weaknesses here are the same as in all the other sectors of the Russian military -- that is, lack of funds exacerbated by the difficulties of today's social problems, not to mention the other problems like a housing shortage for our officers."
SUPER CAPTION: Colonel Sergey Lobov, Head of the Early Warning
System

But massive radar still keeps a constant watch on the cosmos, looking out for any missiles aimed at Russia.

If such a rocket is detected, a call is made to Russia's military chiefs who then decide what action to take.

This set of radar is trained on the United States and monitors the cosmos above the U- S in a kind of round-the-clock look-out.

In the past. Soviet propaganda films, like this one showing various U-S rockets, were made to remind Russians just what the Soviet Union was up against.

The early warning system was designed to detect the movements of these missiles so the Kremlin could strike back immediately.

It was former Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev who ordered the early warning system to be built.

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the U-S and Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war.

As a result, both countries heightened their military readiness and improved their military technology.

Although the Cold War is now over, workers at the radar base still go to work every day.

Their responsibility is enormous - to protect Russia from a nuclear attack with equipment which is barely operational.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"I can't say what will happen to us in the future. What I can say for sure is that sooner or later the government needs to decide what to do with us, whether they need us or not."
SUPER CAPTION: Colonel Sergey Lobov, Head of the Early Warning
System

Meanwhile, the radar systems keep turning and looking for signs of rockets in the sky.

How long they will continue to do so remains to be seen.

One thing is certain - sooner or later the Russian government will have to decide the fate of this once revered military complex.

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