Russia Sees Shades Of Cold War

Russia's Foreign Ministry has asked the U.S. State Department for an explanation of a contingency plan for nuclear strikes against seven nations including Russia, a plan the foreign minister assailed as outdated and harmful to relations.

Russian officials, whose country has enjoyed warmer relations with Washington in recent months thanks to Moscow's support for the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan, have questioned why the plan lumps Russia together with some of Washington's fiercest foes.

"There is a feeling that the document was written during the Cold War," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told Russia's lower house of parliament Wednesday. "We think this does not agree with the spirit of our relations."

A classified report sent by the U.S. Defense Department to Congress outlined the possible use of nuclear weapons against countries that possess or are developing weapons of mass destruction. In addition to Russia, the "nuclear posture review" identified China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria.

Ivanov said the report was not surprising but that Russia remains worried about its details. "The concern of our side is in the form and timing," he said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, meanwhile, is in Washington this week and said he would ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for an explanation of the plan.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said his ministry had sent a letter asking the State Department to clarify its position.

The plan "would turn nuclear weapons from a means of deterrence to part of the operative U.S. military arsenal, which lowers the threshold of their use," Yakovenko said on Russian state television late Tuesday.

"All this would in the end seriously weaken the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Russia and the United States...should aim to strengthen and not undermine this important element of international security."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States doesn't plan to use nuclear weapons but must be ready to do so to deter attacks with weapons of mass destruction.

The issue is the latest to cloud U.S.-Russian relations ahead of President Bush's visit to Russia in May, following disagreements over nuclear weapons cuts, poultry and steel trade disputes, and differences over Russia's war in breakaway Chechnya.

Foreign Minister Ivanov also reiterated Russian opposition Wednesday about a possible U.S.-led anti-terrorist operation in Iraq, a key Russian oil-trading partner.