President Vladimir Putin put the world on alert last month with an announcement that Russia has conducted tests on new nuclear systems and that they had so far gone according to plan. But he gave no further details.

Putin's defense chiefs said separately that Russia was also equipping its nuclear bombers with massive conventional cruise missiles -- just like the United States has done for years -- and that a pre-emptive "anti-terror" strike could be made any time anywhere in the world.

Western states have scrambled for clarification of Moscow's cryptic and mixed messages -- all delivered in a steady sequence amid a geopolitical confrontation over the new leadership of Ukraine.

But some Russian military secrets were opened Friday by General Nikolai Solovtsov, the head of Russia's nuclear force, who said Putin primarily meant that Moscow within the next few years would deploy land-mobile strategic nuclear missiles for the first time.

"He was talking about the mobile Topol-M," Solovtsov said of Russia's latests nuclear threat.

The missiles have been developed in a Moscow laboratory and are comparable to the feared Minuteman weapon from the United States.

"But this was not the only thing that he was talking about," the general added.

"We are developing some other things as well," he said while refusing to give further details.

"And yes, these will be different things from what anyone else has," he said with a smile.

Solovtsov said Russia would not have any land-mobile strategic nuclear weapons in 2005 -- as had been originally promised -- but would deploy at least three by 2006.

"From then on, we will get from six to nine rockets a year," he said.

Russia's nuclear message is often covered by layers of mystery and contradictions.

Putin frequently announces new advances in public while the military complains in private of a lack of money and a fast reduction of available rockets and missile troops.

The general confirmed for the first time that Russia will have to scrap its railroad missile system within a matter of months because the main components are built in Ukraine -- which has scrapped its nuclear program.

"We are not likely to see such a thing again in our lifetime," Solovtsov said.

But Solovtsov said the Russian army, short on cash but powerful on technology, would rely on its nuclear force for years to come despite agreements with Washington to warhead limits.

"Unfortunately, there is no alternative to nuclear arms," Solovtsov said.

"This is why so many other countries are trying to get them."

Moscow had tried to put mobile intercontinental nuclear missiles in place since the Soviet era but they were never officially deployed as part of the country's nuclear arsenal.

Meanwhile analysts suggest that Russia is also in the latter stages of developing a hypersonic missile along with one that works as a cruise missile once re-entering the earth's orbit to avoid rockets that could shoot it down.

None of this technology is officially acknowledged as being available in the United States.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said separately Friday that Moscow would defend its border and national interests, opening up the possibility of preventive strikes on suspected terror bases while ruling out use of nuclear weaponry in doing so.

"Russia," he said, "is far from being the only country to announce its readiness to carry out preventive strikes on terrorist bases."

"We do not rule out the possibility of carrying out preventive strikes on terrorist bases at any location in the world," Ivanov said.

But he added: "The only limit is exclusion of strikes with nuclear weapons."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.