The new US nuclear posture allows a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack. President Vladimir Putin said Russia, if attacked with nuclear weapons, would not hesitate to respond in kind.
The warning came during a state of the nation address delivered by the Russian president on Thursday, in which he presented a number of new advanced strategic weapon systems which, he said, would render all anti-missile capabilities that the US currently has powerless.
Putin also mentioned the new American nuclear posture, which has relaxed some rules on when the US is prepared to use its nuclear weapons.
“We are greatly concerned by some parts of the new nuclear posture, which reduces the benchmark for the use of nuclear weapons. Whatever soothing words one may try to use behind closed doors, we can read what was written. And it says that these weapons can be used in response to a conventional attack or even a cyber-threat,” he said.
“Our nuclear doctrine says Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons only in response to a nuclear attack or an attack with other weapons of mass destruction against her or her allies, or a conventional attack against us that threatens the very existence of the state.”
“It is my duty to state this: Any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies, be it small-scale, medium-scale or any other scale, will be treated as a nuclear attack on our country. The response will be instant and with all the relevant consequences,” Putin warned.
From Sputnik News, Moscow:
On March 1, President Vladimir Putin gave his annual state-of-the-nation address to the bicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly, in which he outlined the country’s domestic and foreign policy priorities. Here are the highlights of his speech: from missile defense to artificial intelligence and beyond.
Russia ‘Has Long Persuaded US Not to Violate ABM Treaty
President Putin announced that Russia was creating new defense systems in response to the United States’ deployment of anti-missile defense systems “both in the US and outside its borders.” He proceeded to say that all of Russia’s suggestions on joint work have been rejected by the US, explaining that Moscow has tried to convince Washington not to violate the anti-missile defense treaty, but all this has been in vain.
According to Putin, the US military build-up will eventually render Russia’s nuclear arsenal pointless unless Moscow acts, specifying that all agreements under the New Start Treaty are gradually being undermined and devalued.
“The implementation of plans on global missile defense system, which is currently ongoing, nullify all agreements within the framework of the SNV-III treaty [New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START signed in 2009] since together with the reduction of number of warheads and their carriers one of the parties, the United States, is increasing the number of interceptors, improving their characteristics, creating new positioning spots, which, if we do not take action, will lead to full nullification of Russia’s nuclear potential, [all missiles] will be intercepted.”
“A uniform radar location field for a missile attack alert system has been deployed along the perimeter of Russia’s borders, which is very important. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, large holes had emerged in it, but everything has now been fixed,” Putin said.
‘Nobody Listened to Russia Before We Created New Weapons Systems, They Will Listen Now’
“We have started development of new strategic arms that do not use ballistic flight paths, while moving to targets, which means that the missile defense systems are useless in struggle against them.”
In late 2017, Russia successfully tested a completely new type of armament “unmatched in the world” — a nuclear-powered missile, Putin said. Following this announcement, Putin declared the beginning of the active phase of SARMAT missile system tests, saying that the new weapons would be invulnerable to interception as its capabilities allow it to bypass any missile defense.
SARMAT will be equipped with nuclear warheads. Moreover, Russia is developing a nuclear warhead small enough to be carried by cruise missiles. In addition, Moscow has developed underwater drones capable of operating at enormous depths and intercontinenal distances, as well as creating hypersonic weapons.
At the same time, the president clarified that all the work to enhance Russia’s defense capability has been conducted within the framework of international agreements, and does not violate any deals.
Putin noted that the country was not threatening anyone and had no intention of attacking anyone despite the creation of a new array of arms, including high-precision strategic weapons, which purely serve Russia’s defensive needs.
Russian Operation in Syria Showed Russian Army’s Increased Capabilities
The Russian anti-terrorist operation in Syria has demonstrated the Russian Armed Forces’ enhanced capacities, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Putin also noted the “enormous work” in strengthening the Russian army and fleet, which had been conducted over the past several years. “The whole world now knows the names of Russia’s modern weapons,” he stated.
Russia Cannot Avoid Lagging Behind in Development of Modern Technology, AI
According to the President, the next few years will be crucial for technological changes in Russia, regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential election.
“The world is accumulating enormous technological potential which allows us to make a huge breakthroughs in improving people’s standard of living, modernization of economy, infrastructure and state governance… The efficiency of how we use the great potential of the technological revolution… depends on us only. In this context, the next few years will be decisive for the future of the country,” Putin said.
Having stressed that lagging behind was a serious problem that should be overcome, President Putin stated that Russia was ready for a technological breakthrough.
Putin called for removing all barriers hindering the development of robotics and artificial intelligence in Russia, adding that the legal framework for the work of foreign scientists and IT specialists should be formed in the country.
“Russia should become not only a key logistics hub of the planet, but, let me stress, one of the global centers of storage, processing, transmitting and protecting large information blocks, the so-called big data,” Putin stated, underscoring the urgent need to take into consideration global technological changes when developing the country’s infrastructure, the importance of adding such solutions as digital navigation, drones, artificial intelligence.
Russia Should Increase Life Expectancy From 73 to 80+ by End of Next Decade
Among the key issues of Russia’s internal policy, the president highlighted the need to improve the quality of people’s lives, boost the financing of maternal welfare and young families, as well as cutting in half the “unacceptable” poverty rate within six years.
He gradually went on to address demographic problems, saying that Russia should take measures to support elderly people and increase life expectancy, with a big screen behind him showing graphs to accrue to his words.
“The life expectancy has risen by more than seven years [since 2000] and amounts to 73 years but this is not enough. Today we must set a principally new goal: by the end of the next decade Russia must enter the 80+ group of states where life expectancy exceeds 80 years,” Putin said.
“We have to respond to [demographic] challenges and in the next decade ensure sustainable growth of the Russian population… Overall we have to allocate at least 3.4 trillion rubles to protect maternity and childhood in the next six years,” Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation speech.
Russian Economy’s Growth Rate Should Exceed Pace of World Economy Development
“Russia should not only to shore up a position in the top five largest economies of the world, but increase the GDP per capita by 1.5 times by the middle of the next decade. It is a very complex issue. I am sure that we are ready to resolve this issue.”
“New technologies are to be introduced in the production, storage and transfer of energy. In the coming six years, it is planned to attract a total of 1.5 trillion rubles in private investment for the renewal of the power industry,” Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly.
Also, Putin elaborated that Russia’s economy should boost its growth rate above the average world level, which, in his own words, was a complicated task and a key issue for the new government, insisting that the low inflation rate gave the country additional incentive for economic development.
In addition, he noted that the growth of labor efficiency should be no less than 5% a year, in order to be at the level of the leading world economies in 10 years.
Watch the entire video broadcast of Putin’s address to find out more.
The 2018 address of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly, country’s parliament, has broken record in terms of duration and lasted for one hour and 57 minutes.
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LS…
It looks like America is a Multi Billion scrapyard already before any shot is fired.
In Dr. Strangelove the dooms-day bomb was kept secret while Wing Attack Plan R was sent on it’s merry way. At least Mr. Putin didn’t wait to announce his new weaponry on the 22nd of April.
What has become of DC. Has it become a facade of politicians who arrive with no knowledge of how this government is supposed to represent it’s electorate. Is it now only an intellectual waste land with it’s members bribed threatened and murdered if they don’t do the bidding of the international elite. The devil is in the details here but it looks and operates with a high strangeness as though this is our situation. We cannot discount JFK’s address to us about this plague.
US list of sane allies is growing thinner every next day of this Yinon-Cromwell Nobel lunacy project. Soon they will be leaving one by one, my predictions are many ‘nominal’ NATO countries as well. Putin just says what he always says, and that is welcome to the 21st century, let’s leave medieval antagonisms behind. It is an honor to have such a visionary in our times.
All we want is so that our US and the other western partners to become sincere and to keep their words. Cancel intrigues and to realize that the world is multi-polar. I see here the VT community has much more common sense and true understanding than those guys in Washington DC.
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