Russia Says Can Guarantee Nuclear Arms Y2K-Proof

                              Updated 8:36 AM ET December 8, 1999

 MOSCOW (Reuters) - The
 commander of Russian nuclear
 forces said on Wednesday the
 country's atomic weapons were
 immune to the Y2K computer
 problem and he guaranteed there
 would be no accidental millennium
 missile launches from Russia.

 Colonel-General Vladimir
 Yakovlev told a news conference
 also broadcast on the Internet
 that the Russian missile command system was impregnable and support
 systems had been successfully tested for Y2K problems. The bug may
 affect some computers if they mistake 2000 for 1900.

 Asked by an Internet questioner whether Russia and the United States
 could guarantee there would be no accidental missile launches as
 January 1, 2000, began, Yakovlev said he could not speak for
 Washington.

 "I can answer that there is such a guarantee from Russia," he said.
 "Because today the command system which exists for the
 intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Russian Federation is
 impossible to copy and impregnable for any kind of intrusion into its
 algorithm."

 He said support systems had been subject to Y2K tests, and added:
 "This program was finished with autonomous tests and a series of tests
 on December 1, 1999. Today we have no doubt that the supply systems
 will carry out their functions as well."

 Russian and U.S. experts will sit side by side at a base in Colorado over
 the New Year period to ensure there are no nuclear mishaps. One of the
 most ingrained public fears around the world has been that nuclear
 weapons could inadvertently be unleashed by computers because of a
 Y2K glitch. 

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