Spending much of speech to lawmakers in Moscow on Thursday talking about nuclear weapons, Vladimir Putin sent a clear message to the United States.
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The Trump administration has vowed to expand US nuclear strength, while criticizing Russia’s buildup.
Her comments came hours after President Putin announced that Russia has developed a number of advanced weapons systems, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile, which make all U.S. capabilities aimed at undermining the Russian nuclear deterrent obsolete, reports PTI.
These include nuclear-powered submarines or drones, called uninhabited underwater vehicles (UUV), nuclear-powered missiles and a hypersonic, intercontinental ballistic missile.
Putin also spoke of a small nuclear-powered engine that could be fitted to what he said were low-flying, highly manoeuvrable cruise missiles, giving them a practically unlimited range.
And naming the stealth atomic-powered cruise missile after a Russian folk musical instrument tapped into a long Russian tradition of giving innocuous names to some of the deadliest weapons.
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Putin was speaking ahead of an election on March 18 that polls indicate he should win easily.
The United States government said these are false claims and made many people comment about how this is reminiscent of the Cold War arms rivalry. She called the animation “cheesy”.
The U.S. said across the board that we’re going to take back dominance, and negotiate only from a position of strength. US officials have already claimed that the country was fully prepared for whatever Putin could throw at it. We’ve had nuclear cruise missiles for decades, with launch platforms on surface ships and subs, and Russians have had the same capabilities for a while.
Those accusations directed at Russian Federation came after Putin, in his annual State of the Union address on Thursday, said the country had strengthened its defense capabilities.
Washington imposed sanctions on Moscow following Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula and Moscow’s backing of rebels in eastern Ukraine.
“The President noted that this in no way can be considered as the start of an arms race, because it’s nothing but a Russian response to the breaking of the ABM treaty”, Peskov told reporters Friday, referring to the decision by former US President George W. Bush to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and deploy missile defenses. “Our missile defense has never been about them”, White said.
Ms Lungescu said Nato’s missile defence system is built to respond to attacks from outside Europe and North America and not directed against Russian Federation.
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The administration’s view is that Russian policies and actions are fraught with potential for miscalculation leading to an uncontrolled escalation of conflict in Europe. More than 10,000 people have been killed in separatist fighting that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation accuses Moscow of directly backing.
