USSR reportedly plans to double missiles in Asia

The Soviet Union has begun building new missile sites in Siberia that would accomodate SS-20 nuclear missiles, newspaper reports said. Quoting Western officials, the New York Times and Los Angeles Times said the bases could double the 108 SS-20 missiles currently targeted on Asia and the Near East. The New York Times said that construction of the sites was known months ago, but only recently had the Reagan administration become convinced that the sites were of the kind associated with other deployments of the SS-20. No new launchers or missiles had yet been deployed, the newspaper added.