Moscow Asked to Explain Reported Illegal ICBM Tests

The United States is asking leaders of the former Soviet Union to explain the test firings of at least one and probably two intercontinental missiles last month in apparent violation of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, officials said Monday.

The firings raise concern that the nuclear command and control network of the former Soviet empire may be subject to less central control and discipline, now that its long-range nuclear weapons are split among four newly independent states, officials here said.

The launches involved a Soviet SS-19 missile, which normally would carry six warheads. It was fired from Kazakhstan on Dec. 20. An even bigger SS-18 with a 10-warhead capability apparently was launched sometime later, also from Kazakhstan.

Data radioed from the missiles in flight was encoded so foreign nations intercepting the broadcasts could not determine whether, among other things, the missiles carried more warheads than allowed. Under the START treaty, signed July 31, neither the United States nor the former Soviet Union is permitted to encode such signals, which tell engineers how missiles are performing.

The Russians said in their reply to the American inquiry that the missiles were being used as space boosters and were not test-fired as weapons. But U.S. officials said that at least one missile came down on the Kamchatka Peninsula where test missiles usually have been targeted. They are asking for more information to explain the incidents, the officials said.

“It’s not a terribly big deal,” one official said Monday after an initial report in an Evans and Novak newspaper column about the test firing of one missile. “But we’re pursuing it.”

Undersecretary of State Reginald Bartholomew has been discussing this and other “loose nukes” issues over the past week with leaders of all four former Soviet republics--Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan--that have long-range nuclear weapons.

Chief among U.S. concerns is the former Soviet nuclear command and control system. Washington wants to learn more about how the republics are assuring the integrity of the network and the procedures to prevent accidental and unauthorized launchings.

The United States also is worried about the safety, security and dismantling of nuclear weapons as shorter-range tactical weapons are relocated in Russia and strategic weapons are dismantled and destroyed in the republics.

In Moscow, British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said that NATO’s nuclear powers--Britain, France and America--were preparing to help the former Soviet republics dispose of their nuclear arsenals, starting with tactical weapons, then perhaps proceeding with strategic, long-range missiles.