Putin: USA’s true goal is to neutralize Russia’s nuclear capacity

The United States and their allies are continuously building up their global missile defense system. Neither Russia’s concern nor cooperation proposals are taken into consideration. President Vladimir Putin made such statement at a meeting on development of the Armed Forces and the military-industrial complex.

According to the president, development and production of such systems is Russia’s response to the challenges it is facing and they guarantee the defense of the country’s security and national interests.

“We indicated repeatedly that we see such actions as an attempt to undermine the existing parity in nuclear missile armaments, and actually to destabilize the entire system of regional and global stability. They assured us that the anti-missile defense system and its European segment were designed to defend from Iranian ballistic missiles. However, we know that the Iranian nuclear issue has been resolved, with appropriate agreements signed. Moreover, corresponding parliaments have already approved them, but work on the anti-missile defense system continues,” Putin said.

Therefore, the president said, references to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear missile threats are a cover-up for the true intentions, which are actually directed at neutralizing the strategic nuclear potential of other nuclear states, apart from the United States and their allies, primarily that of Russia, of course, and at obtaining a decisive military supremacy with all the ensuing consequences.

“We have said repeatedly that Russia would take the necessary reciprocal measures to strengthen its nuclear potential. We will also work on anti-missile defense systems as well, but on the first stage, as we have repeatedly said, we will focus also on offensive systems capable of overcoming any anti-missile defense systems,” the president said.

He noted that in the past three years, defense industry companies have designed and successfully tested a number of promising armament systems capable of performing combat missions in conditions of an anti-missile defense system in depth. First such systems were delivered to the Russian armed forces this year.