During an interview with RT Arabic, Sky News, and Al Arabiya, the president was asked if he believed the new arms race could reset the cold war.
“I would not want to. In any case, this will affect Russia to the least extent, because, as I have already said, promising types of weapons that are absolutely exclusive, which no one in the world have, we have. To a certain extent we have already gone our own way in this sense. Now we are thinking about prospects, working calmly, ”he said.
As the president pointed out, defense spending is important.
“I’m probably not going to tell you any secret, or maybe I’ll surprise you, I don’t know, but Russia ranks seventh in terms of expenses. Saudi Arabia is the third after the United States, which spend 716, in my opinion, billions and has already requested 750 next year; after China - there are somewhere around 177 with a small billion; then Saudi Arabia - how many there, I do not know, 59, in my opinion; then Great Britain, France; then Japan - 48.1, according to my data; and then only Russia in seventh place - 48 billion. And at the same time, we have weapons that are not in the world, ”he said.
He emphasized that this is the result of focused work in the most important areas.
“We must pay tribute to our specialists, the ability to identify these areas, to concentrate resources - this is the presence of schools: scientific schools, production schools, basic knowledge, competencies,” he added.
Putin noted that the arms race “is bad and it does not bode well for the world,” but Russia is not going to get involved in exorbitant budget expenditures for the country.
Earlier, Putin called for abandoning the principles of the Cold War and “block philosophy” in order to achieve world security.
He also noted that the architecture of the global economy has changed since the end of the Cold War.
Read the full interview in RT.