Gorbachev attacks UK Trident plans

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev hit out at the British government's "astonishing" intention to replace its ageing nuclear deterrent in a letter to the Times newspaper.

Gorbachev wrote that a decision to replace the Trident missile would "be in contradiction to the spirit of the agreements that helped to end the Cold War".

He called on Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to postpone a decision on the future of Britain's nuclear arsenal at least until 2010, when the next review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty takes place.

"The UK government's rush to deploy nuclear missiles whose service life would extend until 2050 is, to say the least, astonishing," the former president wrote.

"There is a real danger of proliferation of nuclear weapons." Link