Putin’s Weapons Statements Intended To Explain U.S. BMD Won’t Work

Comments by one or more unnamed military-diplomatic sources to TASS indicate that the official Russian view of the announcements of new nuclear weapons systems made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 1 is, that the ballistic missile defense systems that the U.S. is surrounding Russia with can be stopped by making clear that they won’t work.

According to one military-diplomatic source, Russia has begun series production of the Avangard missile-hypersonic vehicle complex, and the Khinzhal hypersonic cruise missile, which is launched from the MiG-31M high altitude intercepter, is already “on duty.” The missiles “which Americans are determined to roll out as a global anti-missile and air defense system, have no military value now after Russia’s presentations of new weapons,” the source said. Western counterparts, therefore, “need to realize it and sit at the negotiating table to talk about overwhelming security but not saber-rattling. The parity should not be breached as the United States and NATO have been attempting for many years,” he said. It is time for the West to accept the new reality, rather than to keep “harping on” the anti-missile defense system. “Nobody, but Russia, has a hypersonic weapon,” the source underlined.

In a second report, TASS also cites a military-diplomatic source reporting that Russia has completed trials of a miniaturized nuclear power unit to be installed on cruise missiles and underwater drones. Again the intent is to show “uncooperative Western partners … the futility of their attempts to neutralize our strategic potential by the deployment of missile shield elements.”

Andrey Sushentsov, the Valdai Discussion Club’s program director, told TASS that Washington now needs to build dialogue with Moscow on strategic stability. According to Sushentov, the end of the Cold War gave U.S. leaders an illusion that they can easily ignore “inconvenient” Russia. “Moreover, an opinion that circulates in U.S. military circles is that strategic stability no longer exists and the United States has the capacity to deal a crushing blow to Russia,” Sushentsov continued. “The announcement of Russia’s advanced weaponry destroys this stereotype. Currently, an equal dialogue on rules of co-existence is gaining importance again.”