Russia's Pacific Fleet Sees No Y2K Computer Chaos

Updated 6:28 PM ET November 30, 1999

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's Pacific Fleet, which includes atomic submarines, said Tuesday it had taken measures to prevent the Y2K computer bug from accidentally launching its nuclear weapons.

Officials have played down any worries over Russia's nuclear arsenal, the world's second largest, saying it is protected from the Y2K bug, which experts worry could scramble systems that cannot read the two final zeros when the date changes to 2000.

"Security systems, systems which control armaments, including nuclear weapons, use sophisticated technology which will not be affected by computer malfunctions," Yuri Bogun, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet, told Reuters.

"The year 2000 problem will not affect the fleet. ... We have taken some measures, which although not typical, are very good," he said from the fleet's headquarters in Russia's far east.

Bogun said all the fleet's departments would work overnight on New Year's Eve to ensure the Y2K bug does not scramble its computer systems when the clock strikes midnight on December 31.

Russian officials have said the vast nation would not suffer computer chaos in the New Year, shrugging off some foreign forecasts that it could suffer power and energy cuts.

Russian and U.S. military personnel have also agreed to spend New Year's Eve sitting side by side in a missile command center in Colorado to prevent either side thinking the other has launched any of the missiles in their massive nuclear arsenals.

Moscow has been criticized for its slow response in waking up to the risks of the millennium bug and a recent State Department report said Russians across 11 time zones could face a dark, cold new year.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, charged with handling the problem, said earlier this month that Russians would notice nothing more than the results of the odd "non-critical" system malfunctioning.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 30, 1999