Putin warns ‘the arms race has begun’ and vows to make more hypersonic nukes in chilling threat to America
VLADIMIR Putin has said a new "arms race has already begun" between the US and Russia and that his country's new hypersonic missiles are ready for use in combat.
It comes just months before the New Start treaty, the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, is due to expire.
Speaking today at his annual set-piece press conference, Putin discussed Russia's military capability and its bearing on US-Russia relations.
He was asked whether a failure to renew the New Start treaty, which committed both parties to a reduction in nuclear missile launchers, but which is due to expire in February, would mean the start of a new arms race.
“The arms race has already begun,” he said.
“After the US withdrew from the nuclear defense treaty, that’s exactly what happened.
“Their country is now building an umbrella to protect itself."
The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, introduced in 1972, was a treaty between the US and Soviet Union that limited the development of systems used to defend against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons.
In 2002, the US withdrew, citing the need to protect itself against nuclear blackmail from rogue states, and subsequently establishing the Missile Defense Agency.
Speaking today, Putin added: “You have to either have a missile defence system, or weapons that can’t be hindered by missile defence.
"It has happened with hypersonic weapons, including the Avangard [Vanguard] glider.”
In March 2018, Putin announced the development of six new missile systems, saying they were part of a response to the US's withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.
Among those weapons was the Avangard, a hypersonic glide vehicle whose manoeuvrability Putin claims makes it invulnerable to all current missile defences.
The Kremlin said the Avangard had entered service in December 2019.
Speaking in 2018, Putin said the missile had been developed “in response to the US deployment of a strategic missile defense system, which, in the future, would be capable of virtually neutralizing, zeroing out all our nuclear potential".
Towards the end of today's event, Putin also said that the 3M22 Zircon, a new hypersonic anti-ship missile that has been in testing in recent months, was ready for use in combat.
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He went on to attribute the development to the "brainpower" of Russia's engineers.
“As for the arms race, Russia is in sixth place in terms of army funding, and we manage to do what others can’t," he said.
"It’s only possible because of brainpower, and the talent of our people.”
