MOSCOW -- In Russia today, there's nothing quite like the test launch of a nuclear missile to attract a gathering of enthusiastic political leaders.
It used to be that it was only the supreme commander in chief, former President Boris Yeltsin, who would get excited while watching long-range missile launches.
But nowadays, missile silos are attracting high-ranking visitors from all branches of government. There seems to be some nuclear-weapons related event occurring every week. One day, it's a group of deputies witnessing the launch of the Topol-M missile. The next, it's federal government ministers watching a missile strike a target in Kamchatka.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Russia's strategic missile force, a second Topol-M missile regiment was activated. Given the amount of coverage the event received, one would have thought the nation's military and economic conditions had been restored to their former glories.
Of course, remaining a nuclear superpower is an important element of Russia's political psyche, as was demonstrated recently by Yeltsin's saber-rattling comments during a visit to Beijing when he warned President Clinton (as opposed to "my friend Bill") to "remember whom he's dealing with" before criticizing Russia's policy in Chechnya.
Defense Minister Igor Sergeev recently reiterated the policy that nuclear weapons remain at the core of Russia's defense strategy. "The most important task in developing strategic forces is creating a joint strategic and tactical nuclear weapons system", Sergeev wrote last month in a rare, signed article in the military daily Krasnaya Zveada. Russia's armed forces must be able to inflict devastating losses against any aggressor "state or coalition of states," wrote Sergeev. The minister made it clear that he considers the United States and NATO as the major external threats to Russian security.
Even acting President Vladimir Putin seems to share this fascination with the nation's missile force. He recently took time out from his schedule to travel to Plesetsk to witness the successful test launch of a mobile version of the Topol-M missile.
There seems to be nothing quite like the thunder of a missile launch to get Russian officials excited. The danger, of course, is that their excitement sometimes leads them to make bellicose comments, such as Putin's remark regarding the use of the "military-political lever" or the "nuclear bludgeon" as a policy tool.
Some have cautioned Putin against such talk of military bravado, warning that nothing good will come of it. The world already knows that Russia remains an important nuclear power. But apparently, the temptation to flaunt its military capability is too great to resist in a country whose leaders are so fond of weapons and where foreign policy seems to be determined by the General Staff of the Russian army.
Oleg Olnokolenko is a staff military observer for Segodnya, a daily newspaper in Moscow.