ANTINUCLEAR CAMP IN RUSSIA, August 1999

From: "ECODEFENSE!" <mailto:ecodefense@ecodef.koenig.su>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 13:29:18 +0300

ANTI-NUCLEAR CAMP IN FRONT OF THE NOVOVORONEZH NUCLEAR PLANT 10TH anniversary of the environmental action camps in Russia: 10 years of the learning how to effectively resist to dangerous industrial projects International action camp near the Novovoronezh nuclear plant in Russia will be established on August 17, 1999. Since 1989, every year environmental activists from different groups are camping across Russia to protect the nature and public health from dangerous influence of nuclear, oil, forest and other industries through the non-violent direct action and environmental education.

Novovoronezh nuclear plant was established in 1964, it's one of the oldest nuclear plants in Russia. Two nuclear reactors are shut down but not decommissioned and remains dangerous because the spent nuclear fuel is not removed from reactors. Presently, 3 units are in operation at the NV NPP - unit 3 and 4 of VVER-440 design and unit 5 of VVER-1000 design. In 2001-2002 two more units of VVER-440 design at the NV NPP will reach their 30th anniversary and have to be shut down. Several IAEA expert groups concluded that it's impossible to upgrade the Soviet-designed VVER-440s up to western safety standards. Russian Minatom (Ministry of Atomic Power) announced plan to build 2 more units at this nuclear plant. (You can request more information on technical condition of the NV NPP through the contact information below)

Nuclear Safety

Russian nuclear industry presently faces the great lack of cash and can not fund even its own program of the safety upgrade and reactors' repairing. Russian government is not able to extract large subsidies for nuclear industry and the consumers aren't able to pay for reactors as well. In this situation nuclear reactors must be shut down/replaced by the renewable energy and implementation of the energy-efficiency technologies. In Russia, where nuclear reactors generate about 12% of energy and potentials for efficiency are great, such replacement will help to establish a new system based on the sustainable and safe energy.

Plutonium and MOX fuel

Russian Minatom included the NV NPP into its MOX program consist of using the weapon grade plutonium as reactor fuel. This program will lead to more nuclear accidents and the proliferation of weapon-grade materials. Antinuclear camp is part of the global campaign "NIX MOX" of Russian environmental groups working for the prevention of nuclear threats and for establishing of the safer energy system.

Camp

Each person, agreed with the fundamental principles declared by the camp organizers, can take part in the camp. These principles are non-violence, no drugs/alcohol. Bring your tent, waterproof clothes and climbing gear. For more information contact:

Antinuclear campaign of the Socio-Ecological Union, phone +7(095)278 4642, +7(095)776 6546, e-mail: <mailto:anc@ecoline.ru> and <mailto:aln@glasnet.ru> ECODEFENSE!, phone/fax 7(0112)437286, e-mail: <mailto:ecodefense@glasnet.ru> http://www.ecoline.ru/antinuclear/eng/

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Moscow Proposes Extensive Arms Cuts
U.S., Russia Confer Over Stalled Pacts

By David Hoffman Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, August 20, 1999; Page A29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/20/073l-082099-idx.html

MOSCOW, Aug. 19Russia proposed cutting nearly in half the number of nuclear warheads that would be allowed under a prospective START III treaty, a Russian official said today, as talks on the stalled arms control agreements resumed this week in Moscow.

President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed in June to try to reanimate the long-dormant talks, including discussions on the unratified START II accord and the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The first round of discussions ended with renewed Russian warnings against modifying the ABM treaty.

The 1993 START II treaty called for reducing the levels of nuclear warheads to 3,500 to 3,000 on each side. But Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has resisted ratifying it.

At a meeting in Helsinki in 1997, Clinton and Yeltsin nevertheless set as a target for the next step, START III, a ceiling of 2,500 to 2,000 warheads for each side. However, a Russian official said that Moscow this week proposed slashing the maximum to 1,500 or fewer--a reduction that would reflect the reality of Russia's strategic forces, which are declining because of obsolescence and lack of money to build new systems. Many experts here think Russia's nuclear arsenal will decline to fewer than 1,000 warheads in the next decade.

Details of the latest Russian proposal were not provided, but it is likely to meet resistance in the Pentagon and among Republicans in Congress. Moreover, the United States has urged Russia to ratify START II before formal negotiations can begin on the follow-on treaty.

The ABM treaty also promises to incite a negotiating wrangle. The Clinton administration is headed toward a decision next year about building a missile defense system, and Yeltsin agreed to talk about possible changes in the ABM treaty at a summit meeting earlier this year. However, Russia has strongly resisted changes to the treaty, which limits the use of such systems by each country.

Meanwhile, some Republicans in Congress want to scrap the treaty altogether.

In a statement after this week's talks, the United States and Russia reaffirmed that the ABM treaty is "the cornerstone of strategic stability" and a Russian official openly warned against modifications.

Grigory Berdennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's security and disarmament department, told reporters: "We see no variants which would allow the United States to set up a national ABM system and still preserve the ABM treaty and strategic stability in the world."

He said any modifications would undermine the START treaties and expressed fear that "the arms race may spread into space."

If the United States deploys a missile defense system, he added, Russia "will be forced to raise the effectiveness of its strategic nuclear armed forces and carry out several other military and political steps to guarantee its national security under new strategic conditions."

He was not more specific, but cash-strapped Russia has barely been able to afford one missile modernization program in recent years.

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START-3 Arms Talks With U.S. Fail-Russian Official

Updated 6:12 AM ET August 20, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990820/06/news-russia-usa

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian military official said Friday that this week's preparatory talks with the United States on a START-3 nuclear weapons reduction treaty had failed, and strongly criticised Washington's stance on arms control.

"Perhaps the Foreign Ministry would put it more gently but there were no results from these talks," Leonid Ivashov, who heads the Defense Ministry's international cooperation division, told a news conference.

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Moscow Bitter On U.S. Missile System Plans

Updated 4:39 PM ET August 19, 1999 By Peter Graff
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990819/16/news-arms-usa

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States ended a new round of arms control talks Thursday with Moscow saying U.S. plans for a "Star Wars" missile defense system could start a new arms race in outer space.

After three days of initial talks on a new treaty, the two sides appeared to make little progress, with U.S. hopes to alter the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty the chief bone of contention.

The head of the Russian delegation told reporters that Washington's plans to build a new "Star Wars"-style missile defense system could bury the entire arms control framework.

"The arms race could now leap to outer space," Interfax news agency quoted Grigory Berdenninikov, director of the arms control department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, as saying.

The U.S. delegation chief, John Holum, designate under-secretary of state for arms control and international security, told Reuters Wednesday the atmosphere at the talks was "businesslike and productive."

A statement released by both sides Thursday following the meetings gave no indication they had come closer on the key issue of U.S. plans to set up an anti-missile shield, which Russia says violates the ABM treaty.

"The sides presented their approaches to the ABM treaty and to continuing efforts to strengthen it to ensure its viability in the future. Specific proposals were not discussed in the course of the consultations," the statement, released by the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. embassy, said.

The U.S.-Russian statement said they had agreed to begin full negotiations only after the earlier START-2 treaty is finally ratified by Russia's parliament.

The 1972 ABM treaty banned full systems designed to shoot down the other side's missiles. But the United States now plans to build a similar shield against missile programs it fears are being developed by countries like Iran and North Korea.

The Clinton administration says the new system would not violate the treaty and wants the pact updated.

But Berdennikov said there was no way Washington could develop the system without violating the treaty.

"We do not see any variant which would allow the U.S. to deploy a national anti-missile defense system and at the same time maintain the ABM treaty," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

"If this takes place, talks on a START-3 treaty will be ruined, as well as the existing START-1 and START-2 agreements," he said, referring to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties which have committed the former Cold War foes to cutting their nuclear missile arsenals.

Clinton and Yeltsin signed START-2 in 1993, committing both sides to reduce their stockpiles to 3,500 warheads by 2003. But the treaty has languished since then without the approval of Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament.

The Duma was finally due to ratify it early this year, but abandoned it after NATO began bombing Yugoslavia.

Clinton and Yeltsin arranged the latest talks at a summit in Cologne in June when both sides said they wanted to be friends again after relations were hurt by Moscow's outrage at NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia.

Yeltsin sent Clinton a happy birthday telegram Thursday saying he was pleased that ties were improving.

Berdennikov said Russia had proposed that the new treaty call for steep cuts, to 1,500 warheads or below.

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India Defends Right To Decide Security Interest

Updated 10:31 AM ET August 19, 1999
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990819/10/international-arms-india

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - India, responding to U.S. criticism of its draft nuclear deterrence doctrine, said Thursday it had the right to decide its own security interests.

"As a sovereign country, it is India's right to decide for itself what is in its larger security interest," Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal told reporters.

"Our dialogue with all our partners, including the United States of America, is predicated on India maintaining a credible minimum deterrence," he said. "This is clearly understood by all of our partners."

Wednesday, the United States said it opposed New Delhi's intention to build a nuclear arsenal and described the draft doctrine as "not encouraging."

India's National Security Advisory Board proposes a nuclear deterrent based on aircraft, ships and mobile land-based missiles.

It said the shape, size and strength of the deterrent was a dynamic concept and would depend on external factors.

Washington has consistently urged India and Pakistan, which both carried out nuclear tests last year, to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.

The Indian government has already declared a moratorium on further nuclear tests and says it is trying to build a national consensus for signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty after this year's elections.

The spokesman said President Clinton had written to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the weekend.

The letter was part of regular correspondence which deals with subjects such as bilateral relations and the global nuclear architecture, he said.

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Pakistan Criticizes Indian Nuclear Proposal
WORLD In Brief

Compiled from news services Friday, August 20, 1999; Page A32
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/20/145l-082099-idx.html

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan said that India's recently announced draft nuclear doctrine was a "dangerous escalation" of the arms race and showed New Delhi's desire to become a global power.

Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed said Islamabad could not ignore India's plans to boost its conventional and nuclear weapons programs and would "intensify Pakistan's reliance on its nuclear capabilities to deter the use or threat of aggression by India."

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, India responded to U.S. criticism of its proposed doctrine, saying it had the right to decide its own security interests.

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Pakistan: Indian N-doctrine dangerous

Updated 2:37 PM ET August 19, 1999, By RAJA ZULFIKAR
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/990819/14/international-india

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 19 (UPI) Pakistan has expressed grave concern over India's nuclear doctrine and its plans for a nuclear and conventional arms buildup, warning that Pakistan will be obliged to follow suit if New Delhi continues to threaten Islamabad's security.

"If India operationalizes its nuclear weapons, it will intensify Pakistan's reliance on its nuclear capabilities to deter the use or threat of Indian aggression," Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said at a news conference today.

He warned of a domino effect in the region and asked the world's major powers "to take cognizance of this ominous development."

Shamshad said that despite the coercive situation, Pakistan will give serious thought to signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty when it is sure there is no threat to its security interests.

The Foreign Secretary called the news conference to focus on India's nuclear doctrine, announced earlier this week. India's National Security Board has recommended nuclear deterrence. According to the doctrine, a nuclear attack on India will invite "punitive retaliation with nuclear weapons."

Pakistan sees the Indian board's recommendation as a step toward nuclear and conventional militarization. Shamshad said that since most of India's conventional assets are deployed against Pakistan, Islamabad cannot ignore the security implications of India's ambitious weapons development plans, which include thermonuclear and neutron bombs.

"Despite our best efforts for a strategic restraint, India is poised to go ahead with the deployment and operationalization of its nuclear weapons and delivery system. This will frustrate the central purpose of the strategic restraint regime, proposed by Pakistan," Shamshad said.

He said Islamabad has already clarified that its nuclear capability is for security and deterrence purposes, which is why Pakistan has proposed the strategic restraint regime. But "Pakistan's doctrine of nuclear weapons program will be determined by Indian actions," said Shamshad.

The secretary said Islamabad is interested in resuming talks with India, provided they produce results. "For dialogue to commence, we need assurances of its serious and substantive nature and its result- oriented direction," he said.

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India Says Open To Talks On Nuclear Doctrine

Updated 6:02 AM ET August 20, 1999 By Naveen S. Garewal
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/990820/06/international-india-nuclear

CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) - India said Friday it was prepared to discuss its draft nuclear doctrine with all nations including arch-foe Pakistan, which has dubbed the policy a "dangerous escalation" of the arms race.

"It is only a draft and not a final policy. We are willing to discuss it with anyone who wishes to do so," Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told reporters in Chandigarh, northern India.

Apparently seeking to cool the controversy sparked by the release of the doctrine this week, Vajpayee stressed India would never be the first to use nuclear arms against a nuclear state and would never use them against a non-nuclear state.

"We want that the document be studied properly before it attains finality," he said, adding it contained nothing India had not said before.

New Delhi unveiled the draft doctrine Tuesday, saying it would pursue credible, minimum nuclear deterrence based on aircraft, ships and mobile land-based missiles.

The National Security Advisory Board said the doctrine was aimed at convincing a potential aggressor that "any nuclear attack on India and its forces shall result in punitive retaliation with nuclear weapons to inflict damage unacceptable to the aggressor."

Washington criticised the document as "not encouraging," and said it opposed India's intention to build a nuclear arsenal.

Islamabad said it could not ignore New Delhi's plans to bolster its conventional and nuclear weapons programs, and would intensify its reliance on nuclear capabilities to deter the threat of aggression.

"...this is a draft doctrine which has not yet been approved by the government, but our first reaction is that basically this is a call for a nuclear arms race in the subcontinent," Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz told BBC World radio Friday.

He said the promise of no first use was "designed to make Pakistan's deterrent capacity ineffective because we have a very large conventional gap between India and Pakistan and, in that context, if India were to attack us...and we have signed a no first use, then obviously our deterrence is gone."

Vajpayee said the draft doctrine had been made public now because there were demands for an explanation of the country's control and command mechanism.

Since India's nuclear tests last year, the United States has urged India to define its deterrent and to join non-proliferation accords. Pakistan followed India's underground blasts with tests of its own.

Vajpayee said India was committed to the destruction of all nuclear weapons in the world and would join the five official nuclear states if they took such a step.

"During the next session of the United Nations General Assembly, we will raise the issue of all nuclear state adopting complete destruction of nuclear weapons," he said.

He said India was also prepared to be part of a multinational commitment to no first use of nuclear weapons.

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India willing to discuss nuclear policy

Updated 11:22 AM ET August 19, 1999, By HARBAKSH SINGH NANDA
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/u/990819/11/international-nuclear

NEW DELHI, India, Aug. 19 (UPI) India says it is willing to satisfy the United States' concerns over its draft nuclear policy that calls for a credible minimum nuclear deterrence.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told the Press Trust of India, "If (the United States) wishes to take it up with us, I am ready to discuss it."

Singh said: "I am due to meet Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in New York. I have no inhibitions in discussing all aspects, as the document is meant for public discussion."

Singh said he was confident of assuaging the world's concerns arising out of the nuclear doctrine.

He said India's nuclear weapons program is peaceful and does not threaten any country or disturb the global non-proliferation regime.

India stirred a hornet's nest by unveiling its nuclear doctrine on Tuesday that provided the production of nuclear weapons as a minimum deterrent against any aggression.

Washington, Beijing and Islamabad have flayed the draft paper.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said in Washington, "We do not find it an encouraging document."

Rubin said Washington would continue to press India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Meanwhile, India's opposition Congress Party has also blasted the ruling caretaker Hindu-nationalist coalition of overstepping its brief by announcing such a serious document.

Congress spokesman Pranab Mukherjee said the document was aimed at earning last-minute votes during the upcoming parliament elections.

The Communist parties have also flayed the doctrine calling it a nuclear adventure by a poor country beset with unemployment and poverty.

India says global treaties like the CTBT are biased in favor of the five declared nuclear powers Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The new government that wins next month's parliamentary elections can only approve the doctrine.

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NEWS ANALYSIS
India ready to discuss N-doctrine with US

From O P Verma DH News Service NEW DELHI, Aug 19, 1999 DECCAN HERALD
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/analy.htm

The draft 'nuclear doctrine,` released by the caretaker BJP-led government on Tuesday ostensibly to influence the coming elections, has virtually opened a Pandora`s box, sparking protest from opposition parties, concern from abroad, especially the US and China, and a possible retaliation from Pakistan.

The US has expressed concern over India`s determination to have a credible minimum nuclear deterrence and said that Washington is seeking to promote the idea of denuclearisation of South Asia by involving the White House, State Department and the Pentagon. It has advised restraint to avoid a nuclear arms race in the region which would affect the world at large.

The Pentagon even said a nuclear conflict is possible in the sub-continent if tensions between India and Pakistan continued, while the State Department said nuclear weapons in South Asia would undermine security not only in the sub-continent but also ''in the US and the world.``

Mr James Rubin, the State Department spokesman said the US would continue to urge India to sign CTBT, not to weaponise missiles, to stop production of fissile material and to develop a export control system.`` The security of India and Pakistan cannot be enhanced through nuclear weapons, the US said.

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh rejected the US concerns of a possible India-Pakistan nuclear conflict and said India was willing to discuss the draft nuclear doctrine with Washington.

Mr Singh is leading the Indian delegation to the UN General Assembly session in New York next month. ''We will be able to assuage the concerns that have been expressed in Washington and Beijing,`` Mr Singh said, adding that India`s nuclear programme was not meant to disturb the proliferation regime.

''What India has done is in its own interest and is aimed at enhancing its strategic space and autonomy,`` he told a private TV channel and added that there was no need for anyone to fear from a dicussion paper.

India`s nuclear programme, which professes ''no first use,`` is neither country specific nor strike specific and to read anything more in it was completely unwarranted, Mr Singh said, adding that India will sign the CTBT only after the elections after evolving a political consensus.

On expected lines Pakistan accepted the gauntlet thrown by India, and announced today that it is giving ''final touches`` to its nuclear doctrine based on the proposed strategic restraint regime discussed with India.

Without commenting on the Indian draft, Pakistanis believe that India is trying to score points and present itself as a more responsible nuclear power in the region.

The draft doctrine says that nuclear weapons shall be tightly controlled and released for use at the highest political level, that is the prime minister or the designated successor(s). The chain of command in the event of a nuclear attack has not been revealed for security reasons.

The doctrine, which envisages retaliation with nuclear weapons to inflict damage unacceptable to the aggressor, does not differentiate an enemy first strike as accidental or intentional.

''We may have control over the prime minister or his designated successors, but what about our neighbours where political powers play second fiddle to the security forces.``

The discussion paper is silent about the costs involved and the time frame, that is by what time the land-based or sea-based missile would be in place.

Related Stories:

Doctrine reflects Indian desire to build nuclear arsenal: US
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/inter.htm

Sanctions to continue, G-8 toughens stance
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/intsanc.htm

Pakistan, India clash at UN arms talks
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/intclas.htm

Pakistan too to come out with nuclear doctrine
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/intcome.htm

We're ready to discuss doctrine with US: Jaswant
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug20/intjas.htm

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In India's Power Struggle, 2 Women Collide Head-On

By BARRY BEARAK, August 20, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/082099india-sonia.html

NEW DELHI, India -- Immediately and deliciously billed as "Sonia versus Sushma," some first-rate political sport lies ahead in India between the videshi bahu and the swadeshi beti: the foreign-born daughter-in-law (who speaks heavily accented Hindi) and the home-grown daughter (who wears vermilion powder in her hair).

Sonia Gandhi -- the Italian heiress to an Indian political dynasty -- is leading her Congress Party into a month of staggered elections that begin on Sept. 5. If Congress achieves a majority in Parliament, she is the party's presumed choice for prime minister -- that is, if she has first won herself a seat in Parliament.

In India, any candidate may run anywhere in the nation, so there was great speculation about where Mrs. Gandhi would attempt her maiden quest for elected office. On Wednesday, after a series of political jukes and feints, she showed up about 1,100 miles from New Delhi, filing her papers in Bellary, a Congress-friendly South Indian district where the party has never lost the seat.

While Mrs. Gandhi succeeded in keeping her plans secret from the press, she failed to outfox those she most needed to fool, her opponents in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sushma Swaraj, a former chief minister of New Delhi who has one of the party's most viperous tongues, was tipped off and arrived in Bellary 10 minutes after Mrs. Gandhi to run for the very same seat.

Just as her adversaries intended, Mrs. Gandhi -- the daughter-in-law of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi -- was not only left with egg on her face but a little pasta as well. Mrs. Swaraj went right to work on the fact of her rival's foreign birth. "I have come here to fight for India's self-pride," she told reporters.

Thursday, she continued the attack. "As a videshi bahu, a foreign-born daughter-in-law, Mrs. Gandhi is entitled to our love, respect and security, but when that foreigner asks to be India's prime minister just because she is one of her family's survivors, this cannot be permitted," Mrs. Swaraj said in a phone interview.

Mrs. Gandhi quickly hedged her bet. Party members confirmed that she would take advantage of a convenience in Indian law that allows a candidate to run in two districts. Mrs. Gandhi will also be competing in a northern state, Uttar Pradesh.

"That race won't be an easy one either," said a political analyst, Mahesh Rangarajan. "She'll be up against Sanjay Singh, an old associate of the Gandhis. He's formidable."

Sonia Gandhi, 52, raised as a Catholic in a small Italian town near Turin, became an Indian citizen in 1983, 15 years after she married Rajiv Gandhi at age 18.

As a daughter-in-law in India's most famous family, she sat at the ringside of history. The view was horrifying. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards in 1984. Rajiv Gandhi, whom she had begged not to enter politics, was blown apart by a suicide bomber in 1991. Sonia Gandhi withdrew from public life.

But in 1997 she agreed to hit the hustings for a floundering Congress Party. She appeared before adoring crowds who considered her a brave widow with a magic name. Dressed in saris, she read short speeches with the Hindi words typed out in Roman script.

While this adventure in barnstorming did not prevent the BJP from coming to power, it did show that Sonia Gandhi was the Congress Party's best -- and perhaps only -- hope for a comeback. She became the party's president in March 1998.

Seven months later, Congress won impressive victories against the BJP in state elections, and its revival seemed almost inevitable. But last April, Mrs. Gandhi, whose political instincts had earlier been marked by prudence, unwisely helped topple the BJP government without Congress having the votes in Parliament to replace it.

She then faced a rebellion within her own ranks as a few party leaders questioned whether someone of foreign birth and scant experience should be at the helm. Mrs. Gandhi resigned from the party presidency, but then reconsidered after supporters pleaded with her to stay and her detractors were expelled from Congress.

Now she finds herself in the midst of a short campaign season with her Italian heritage being weighed against the Gandhi-family legacy.

On Wednesday, for the first time in 14 years, she agreed to give an in-depth interview, which will be televised Friday night.

During the conversation, she insisted that she no longer feels "one bit Italian." To the contrary, she said: "I feel completely Indian. I love India. I love the people here. India is in my heart."

She said she knew that people find her Hindi hard to understand: "Well, I do have this accent, and I don't blame people for making fun of it."

But Sushma Swaraj is unlikely to accept these Indian bona fides. "It's not hard to tell what this campaign is going to sound like," said Jairam Ramesh, a Congress Party official. "Sushma is going to remind people that the button for India's nuclear weapons is in the hands of the prime minister. She is going to ask, 'Should these hands be Italian?"'

Years back, Indian politics was a marvel of simplicity: Congress always won. Now, no single party seems able to command a majority in Parliament. Coalitions have to rule and these involve dozens of smaller, state parties who often refuse to allow ideology to interfere with their horse trading. In every election, the matter of who's who and what's what is routinely turned upside down.

In the coming Parliamentary elections, Mrs. Gandhi's bloodlines are one issue. Another is national defense. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government has been enjoying resurgent popularity since the Indian military bested hundreds of Pakistani-backed soldiers in the remote mountains of Kashmir. Opinion polls are predicting a decisive victory for Vajpayee and his BJP-led alliance.

"Sushma will know how to play up the defense angle," Ramesh said. "She is a great campaigner, full of life, full of theatrics."

Ms. Swaraj, 47, a lawyer and former socialist, joined the Hindu nationalist BJP in 1984 and rose to become the party's first spokeswoman. When the party came to power last year, she was named information and broadcasting minister. She was frequently in high dudgeon over low necklines, criticizing the sexual intimations of modern TV.

"Sushma is the Phyllis Schlafly of India," remarked Rajiv Desai, who has created the advertising for Mrs. Gandhi's campaign. "She is the quintessential traditional Indian woman with the large bindi on her forehead and the red powder in her hair, and they've picked her to stand out against Sonia Gandhi's foreignness."

If so, that comes with some risks. Polls show that a large majority of voters say that Mrs. Gandhi's birthplace is not an important factor in their choice.

"Daughter-in-laws are very important to the Indian family, and Sonia is regarded as having been a model daughter-in-law," said Rangarajan, the political analyst.

That said, a significant minority -- perhaps a quarter of all voters -- do say the "foreigner issue" matters to them.

"After all, this is India, and Mrs. Gandhi is Italian," said another analyst Pan Chopra. "When the pistol sounds, she starts the race lugging quite a burden."