Putin: New Arms Race Started by US Pulling Out of Missile Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied accusations he revived an arms race by unveiling Russia’s new nuclear deterrent. That was done by US President George W. Bush killing a 30-year-old missile treaty in 2002, he told NBC.

In an interview with NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today” on Thursday, the Russian leader brushed off claims in the Western media that by introducing new nuclear-powered missiles, including the hypersonic Sarmat, he has signaled a new arms race. The alarmist rhetoric that fills Western news outlets is just another form of propaganda, Putin said, according to RT.

 “My point of view is that the individuals saying that a new Cold War has started are not really analysts; they do propaganda,” he said, as translated by NBC. Putin blamed Washington’s 2002 withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) for escalating the confrontation. “If we are to speak of an arms race, then an arms race started precisely at that point”.

It was US President George W. Bush who withdrew from the ABM Treaty, which had been one of the main pillars of the détente and held for nearly 30 years. Bush argued that the treaty hindered the US’ ability to protect itself from “future terrorist or rogue state attacks.”

In the years following, the US has encircled Russia with its missile defense installations, extending its anti-missile shield to Romania and Poland, deploying for the first time a battery of Patriot long-range anti-aircraft system to Lithuania for war games.

The US nuclear build-up on Russia’s doorstep triggered a response from Moscow, which deployed its newest Iskander systems to its Kaliningrad exclave, citing the threat posed by US missile launchers deployed in Poland and Romania.

The path that led towards confrontation could have been avoided had the US agreed to cooperate on the development of anti-missile defenses with Russia – an offer repeatedly extended by Moscow. After Washington refused, Putin said he could not sit idle.

The Russian president went on that he still believes the two countries should focus on what they can do together. He mentioned the fight against common challenges to security such as terrorism.

“Instead of creating threats to one another, great powers should pool their efforts in protecting against terrorists,” he told Kelly.

Kelly raised the topic of speculation that the new weapon systems have not yet undergone any successful tests. Putin, who had used Thursday’s state of the nation address to unveil the weapons, dismissed the rumors.

“Every single weapon system that I have discussed today easily surpasses and avoids anti-missile defense systems,” Putin said, adding that while “some of them still have to be fine-tuned and worked on,” others are combat-ready. “One of them is already on combat duty. It’s available to the troops,” the Russian leader said.

Putin: New Russian Nuclear-Powered ICBMs Successfully Tested

President Putin, according to Sputnik, confirmed that the new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) presented during his annual address to the parliament on Thursday had been successfully tested and some were already on combat duty.

“All of those tests were successful, it’s just each of these weapons systems is at a different stage of readiness…. Some of them still have to be fine-tuned and worked on, others are already available to the troops and already are battle-ready,” Putin said answering the host Megyn Kelly’s question whether nuclear-powered intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were really tested or were just a computer graphics, as some experts claimed.

Russian lawmakers emphasize that Putin’s address was a call for peace and talks

Pre-empting western interpretations of the presidential address to parliament as saber rattling, several Russian lawmakers explained the stating of Russia’s strength. The aim was furthering peace, equality and justice, they said.

Head of the Upper House Foreign Relations Committee Konstantin Kosachev told RT that the parliamentary address that Vladimir Putin delivered on Thursday could share the fate of Putin’s 2007 historical speech in Munich.

“Just as the Munich speech was mispresented as an aggressive and assertive one, analysts will seek messages in this speech which will present Russia again as an aggressive and assertive country,” the senator said.

“This is definitely not the case because Putin was very clear on the message that Russia does not threaten any country, Russia does not challenge any country and Russia does not plan to force its national interests on any country,” Kosachev said.

The senator went on to point out that Russia has been inviting western nations to hold talks and sign treaties for years and decades without any proper response from the US and its allies. He then expressed hope that the international community will listen attentively to Putin’s latest statements and eventually find some “windows of opportunities,” because collective effort is the only way to tackle common threats.

Senator Aleksey Pushkov said in comments to RT that he thought that the main message of Putin’s address to the international community was very clear: “don’t even think of using any kind of weapons against Russia and don’t have any illusions about Russia’s strength in the military field.”

Pushkov noted that certain circles in the United States tend to calm themselves by calling Russia “a weak regional power” but the presentation made by the Russian president had made it absolutely clear that any speculations about Russia’s supposed weakness were total nonsense.

However, the senator also stressed that the display of strength was not aimed at intimidation. Putin suggested a reconsideration of the western strategy of strategic encirclement, as well as the US strategy of creating new weapons that can overcome the Russian strategic nuclear potential.

“He says this is meaningless, you will not achieve anything so let us sit down and talk. I am absolutely sure that now we will see a hysterical reaction from the US mass media, but it is important to stress that there is a second part to Putin’s message – it is not just a display of our capabilities, it is also an offer to discuss and come to some solutions,” Pushkov told RT.

R.S