Washington and Moscow accuse each other of launching a new arms race

Russia and the United States traded accusations at the United Nations on Wednesday that they risked launching a new arms race, while China expressed its interest in participating in any new Russian-US arms control deal. Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that he had ordered the military. By preparing for an "equal response" after Washington announced this week that it had conducted a previously banned missile test.

In detail, the Kremlin said Putin had ordered various ministries to analyze the threat posed by the new US missile, but said that "Russia does not want to drift into an arms race."

According to the transcript of his remarks posted on the Kremlin website, Putin said Russia would not stand idly by, and that the US talk of new missiles in the Asia-Pacific region "affects our fundamental interests because of its proximity to Russia's borders". The threat posed by the actions of the United States to our country and the adoption of comprehensive measures to prepare for an equal response », which means analyzing the danger posed by the new US missile test to Russia, and also prepared to respond in kind.

"You know, we never wanted, we don't want, and we won't get involved in an expensive and destructive arms race."

On the other hand, Putin stressed during a session of the Russian Security Council that his country will ensure its security after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the treaty to get rid of medium and short-range missiles.

"The reason for our development of the latest systems, which are truly unmatched in the world's newest weapon systems, was the unilateral US withdrawal from missile defense systems in 2003," Putin told members of the Russian Security Council.

“Of course, we have had to ensure the security of our people and our country. "We are doing it now and we will definitely do it in the future."

On the other hand, Putin stressed that Moscow is open to a constructive and equal dialogue with Washington, to restore confidence and enhance global security.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Poliansky told the Security Council that Washington's test of a surface-launched missile this week showed that "America is ready for a new arms race."

Russia requested the meeting of the Security Council after the United States tested a type of missiles banned under the 1987 agreement to limit nuclear medium-range missiles.

Polianski said Russia was reaching out for a "serious dialogue" on arms control, accusing the European Union of tolerating US behavior.

His US counterpart, Jonathan Cohen, responded that "the Russian Federation and China still want a world in which the United States exercises restraint, while they continue to build up their military capabilities unabated and unabashedly."

“American tests to develop conventional ground-based capabilities are not provocative and do not destabilize. "We will not stand still."

The missile, tested on Sunday, was a ground-launched version of a Tomahawk missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon and was decommissioned after ratifying the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Weapons Convention.

The test is a resumption of an arms race that some observers fear could exacerbate tensions between Washington and Moscow.

The US missile launch came weeks after a mysterious explosion at a Russian test site, which Western experts linked to Moscow's attempts to develop a nuclear-powered missile.

The blast killed five scientists and a rise in nuclear radiation levels, although Russian authorities remained silent about the nature of the explosion.

"What exactly happened on August 8 in Russia?" Cohen asked. What was the cause of the explosion? What is this system, and what purpose does it serve? ”

He said the United States is interested in the "serious arms limitation" that encompasses China and "goes beyond treaties that focus on limited types of nuclear weapons or missile range."

But China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing was "not interested" in being part of any arms control treaty with Russia and the United States.

This comes at a time when a State Department official said, last night, that the US offer to sell the Patriot missile defense system produced by the company Raytheon to Turkey «was removed from the table», after a decision by Ankara to buy the missile system S-400 Russian.

Washington is interested in the "serious arms limitation" that encompasses China, and "goes beyond treaties that focus on limited types of nuclear weapons or missile range."