Putin: Russia will not participate in an exhausting arms race

Moscow-Sana

Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that Russia has advanced a lot over other leading military powers in the world in a number of strategic weapons, stressing that it has all the capabilities necessary to protect its interests.

Sputnik quoted Putin as saying during a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, federal departments and military industries in Sochi that "Russia will continue to maintain its nuclear capabilities at the level of necessary sufficiency as it is ahead of other countries in a number of weapons." And it remains the most important primary guarantee of Russian military security and, in a wider sense, global stability despite the changing nature of military threats.

Putin indicated that Russia will not participate in an exhausting arms race, considering it unnecessary at the present time. "We will not do that and we do not have such a need today as we have all the necessary strategic capabilities to reliably protect Russia's interests," Putin indicated.

Putin stressed that maintaining such a balance of power negates the risk of any large-scale military conflict and makes any attempts to blackmail and pressure Russia absurd.

Putin pointed out that the tests of the latest Sarmat ICBM are being carried out according to the schedule set for them, in addition to the fact that the main submarine of the new "Puri A" project was put into operation in the Navy.

On the other hand, Putin considered that "NATO's presence in Europe is expanding near Russia's borders, and we must take into account a number of external factors that carry with them potential dangers."

Putin indicated that NATO did not respond to Russia's proposal to reduce military activity during the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, pointing out that the intensity of sorties and the activity of NATO fleets increased.

The Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier in a meeting of the Russian and Belarusian Ministries of Defense that the situation on the borders of the countries of the Union "Russia and Belarus" with NATO countries is still turbulent, so providing security is a priority for the Russian Defense Ministry.