Russia Is Satisfied With Its Missiles

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 13

Russia Is Satisfied With Its Missiles

fN.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright)

MOSCOW, July 3.

Russia had more missiles—inter-continental and orbital—than some Western intelligence reports suggested, the Soviet Communist Party secretary, Mr Leonid Brezhnev, said today.

He warned the world Russia had enough missiles to crush any enemy. In a speech to graduates of military academies. Mr Brezhnev said the West should not underestimate Russia’s nuclear might. It had enough to “finish once and for all with any ag-

gressor, or any group of aggressors.” In his references to the U.S., he used terms as harsh as any heard here recently, , describing it as the “mainstay of reaction and aggres- • sion.” The speech, at a Kremlin reception was symptomatic of the low level in Soviet-Ame-rican relations, which has foli lowed the growth of the Viet- • nam war.

As if to emphasise this once again, top Soviet officials boycotted an American Independence Day reception in the Ambassador's residence in Moscow today. The timing of the two receptions coincided exactly but the absence of senior officials, was regarded as a diplomatic snub

Last year's top Independence Day guest was Mr Alexei Kosygin, then First Deputy Premier. This year it was Mr Mikhail Smirnovsky, head of the North American department of the Foreign Ministry. In his speech, Mr Brezhnev replied to a recent U.S. article which estimated the Soviet Union had about 270 inter-continental missiles with nuclear warheads.

The U,S. Air Force announced on Wednesday that it now had 800 nuclear-tipped Minuteman missiles in firing positions. Mr Brezhnev did not mention the report but he said "we are satisfied with our rockets. Technical Perfection “Their high reliability and their high state of readiness for immediate launching are the result of great technical perfection,” he said. They could be fired from land, from underground, or underwater, from mobile or stationary launching pads, and were highly manoeuvrable, Mr Brezhnev said. New advances had been made in anti-missile defences, which had made them more efficient he said. But he did not give any due as to what these advances might be.