The
Khrushchev subsection has now come to an end, but the present entry
preserves its continuity, as it talks about the successful Soviet ABM program,
concluded under Brezhnev in the 1970’s, but, like all other ambitious military,
nuclear, and space programs, having its roots in the hard-toiled and
blood-irrigated soil of Stalinism.
The
entry’s title invokes a playful reference to Harry Potter’s magic spell,
but its content is hardly a joking matter. I am talking about the ABM defense
ring around Moscow originally conceived in general terms and also commanded by
my father General Artem Fedorovich Sergeev-Artem.
There
were actually two fiercely competing Chief
Designers of alternative defense systems, namely Grigori Vasilievich
Kisunko and Anatoly Georgievich Basistov. Artem was obviously on excellent
terms with them both, but betwixt the two of them they could not stand each
other. I met them both too, naturally separately. (Social conversation only!) Whether
their mutual enmity was some kind of act on their part, or the real thing, I
could never figure out…
In
case my reader has not figured out so far the meaning of Expecto Patronum, in
this entry, both men were chief producers of the ‘magic spell’ called out for Moscow’s defense against a nuclear attack.
Their designs (patronuses) were
different in principle, reflecting their two approaches to the problem of
strategic defense. Kisunko designed the fairly inoffensive method of some kind
of metallic mist to be introduced
into the path of the incoming offensive missiles. Basistov was far more
aggressive, basing his design on intercepting the incoming missiles by a preventive
nuclear explosion along their earlier
trajectory.
Initially,
Kisunko’s design was favored by the Kremlin, as sufficiently effective for
Moscow’s defense, yet innocuous enough to avoid a nuclear explosion. Ironically,
it is Basistov’s aggressive design now being adopted by the Russian defense
forces. The reason for this is plain and simple. During Cold War, a nuclear
response to an attack on Moscow could have produced a nuclear explosion over
the territory of, say, Poland who was then a Soviet ally. These days, Russia
lacks the protective padding of the Warsaw Pact countries, but on the bright
side of it, she would no
longer mind such an explosion to take place in the skies over some unfriendly
NATO country…
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