Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would continue to modernize its nuclear triad. The nuclear triad of the Russian Federation does senseless attempts of blackmail and pressure on Russia, he said. The President outlined this position opening a meeting with the senior staff of the Defense Ministry, heads of Federal departments and enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC) on Tuesday.
"Despite the changing nature of military threats, it is the nuclear triad that remains the most important, key guarantee of Russia's military security, and if we look more broadly, of global stability," Putin said. "Maintaining this balance of power negates the threat of a large - scale military conflict, in fact makes any attempts to blackmail or pressure our country meaningless," the President added.
Putin called for taking into account the emergence of a number of modern and new potentially dangerous external factors. As an example, he cited the expansion of NATO's military presence near the Russian borders.
Support for nuclear capabilities
"Given the current military and political risks, we will continue to modernize our strategic nuclear forces and systematically strengthen all their components," Putin said. He stressed that "Russia will continue to maintain its nuclear potential at the level of necessary sufficiency."
According to the head of state, in recent years, the army and navy have been receiving new missile and aviation systems as a priority, and the share of modern weapons in the strategic nuclear forces is already 82%. So, Putin continued, the first regiment equipped with the Avangard hypersonic missile system has taken up combat duty, about half of the strategic missile forces units have received the latest Yars systems, the Sarmat Intercontinental ballistic missile is being tested on schedule, and the new Borey-A lead submarine has been introduced into the Navy.
"Today, I ask you to report in detail on how the state defense order tasks related to strengthening the nuclear triad are being fulfilled, and whether everything is being done and implemented on time," the President addressed the meeting participants.
However, he said that Russia would not get involved in an "exhausting arms race". "We do not intend to get involved in an exhausting arms race," the Russian leader stressed. "We won't do it, and we don't need to do it today."
Putin pointed out that Russia "has all the necessary strategic forces to reliably protect its interests." The head of state noted that in a number of strategic weapons, Russia "has gone far ahead of other leading military powers in the world." "For the first time in history, our country, Russia, did not act as a catch - up, but itself offered such samples that are years or even decades ahead of their foreign counterparts, and some simply have no equal in the world," Putin said.
Offer To Washington
Putin also reported on Moscow's proposal to Washington to develop a new security equation in the sphere of strategic stability. "In general, Russia firmly and consistently supports strengthening and improving mechanisms for ensuring strategic stability and arms control regimes. For example, our proposals on developing a new security equation have been passed on to our American partners," the head of state said.
According to him, this equation "takes into account all factors that affect strategic stability." "At the same time, special attention is paid to the means of delivering the so-called first strike, which, in our opinion, is generally unacceptable," the President added. "The Russian proposals lay the foundation for continuing a comprehensive dialogue with the United States on future nuclear missile control," Putin said. He noted that " this is important for both countries, and, in fact, for the whole world," meaning that the Russian Federation and the United States are the largest nuclear powers.
The Russian leader recalled that on June 2, he signed a decree on the basics of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence. "This document clearly sets out the conditions under which a decision can be made to use nuclear weapons. In fact, Russia has confirmed its principled position that the use of nuclear weapons is an extreme, exceptional measure to ensure national security, " the President stated. "We are saying that we can use our existing nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack against our country - that is the essence of what is written in these fundamental documents."
The fate of the START Treaty
Speaking about the strategic offensive arms reduction Treaty, Putin said that its fate is not yet clear. "The fate of the last fundamental Treaty in the field of strategic offensive arms limitation, the START Treaty, which expires, as you know, in February 2021, that is, very soon, remains unclear," he said.
According to the head of state, the established global system of arms control has degraded. "We also see that the arms control system is frankly being shaken and degraded," Putin said.
He recalled that following the termination of the US-initiated action of the new Treaty, Washington announced its intention to withdraw from the open skies Treaty. "I'm not talking about an earlier exit from the ABM system (the ABM Treaty-ed. TASS), " Putin said.
The Russian leader emphasized that the Treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms provides the necessary level of transparency of strategic nuclear weapons arsenals and deters their uncontrolled race. "That is why we proposed extending it as it was signed by the parties if only to have time for further work on it," Putin added, stressing that Russia firmly supports strengthening and improving mechanisms for ensuring strategic stability and arms control regimes.
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS