Russia says 'reluctant' to enter arms race with US
A top aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin says Moscow refuses to engage in a costly new arms race with the US, adding, however, that Russia will not back down in the face of possible threats.
The comments by Yury Ushakov on Wednesday came one day after Putin announced that Russia’s nuclear arsenal would be beefed up by 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles this year.
“Russia is trying to react to possible threats with some sort of means, but that's it,” Ushakov, who serves as Putin's top foreign policy aide, told reporters in Moscow.
“We are against any arms race because it naturally weakens our economic capabilities,” Ushakov said reiterating, “In principle we are against it."
Russia and the US have been at odds over an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Washington and its allies accuse Moscow of having a major hand in the crisis that has led to the death of more than 6,400 people. Russia denies the charges, saying it is supporting the ethnic Russian population living in the area against the continued suppression of their rights by the Ukrainian government.
Ushakov, however, declined to comment on the possibility of a direct military conflict between Russia and the US over Ukraine, a fact many have warned about as a shaky truce deal signed in February has effectively failed to end the hostilities in east of the country.
Attending a big military fair near Moscow, Putin said Tuesday that the new ballistic missiles with the capability to pierce the most sophisticated anti-missile systems in the world would be delivered to the Russian army in a matter of months.
He also promised his army generals that an array of new, state-of-the-art weapons and equipment would also be delivered to the military units in the coming months.
The Russian leader said the decision came in response to a rising military presence by the US and its NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
“If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates," Putin said.
Officials in the US reacted to the remarks, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying nobody wants to return to a “Cold War status.”
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