Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of violating the nuclear balance and warned against a “Third World War” during an annual televised call-in show.
Responding to a worried viewer, Mr Putin called for new arms control negotiations and quoted Albert Einstein’s aphorism that “World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”.
But he also said Russia had developed weapons to overcome US missile defence after Washington left the Soviet-era anti-ballistic missile treaty in 2002.
“The fear of mutually assured destruction has always restrained and forced military powers to respect each other,” he said. “The exit of the United States from the missile defence treaty was an attempt to ruin this parity, but our efforts in the development of new weapons will preserve this parity.”
These “invincible” nuclear weapons, which include an underwater drone and hypersonic glider warhead, sparked fears of a new arms race when the Russian leader first announced them in March.
US intelligence has claimed Moscow’s nuclear-powered hypersonic cruise missile with “unlimited” range crashed in tests.
But Mr Putin argued that Russia had already proved doubters wrong by successfully developing weapons like the Avant-Garde missile, which flies 20 times faster than the speed of sound. The Mach-10 Dagger missile and a laser weapon are already in service, he said.
The Cold War rhetoric continued as Mr Putin likened Western sanctions on Russia to the US containment policy against the USSR.
He also cited Soviet successes in the space race while pledging to launch 600 new…
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