MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd May, 2021) The development by the United States of the global missile defense system has led to serious security implications and provokes an arms race, including missile one, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an interview with Sputnik.
Russian officials have repeatedly drawn the attention of the US to the dangers associated with the unrestricted development of the US global missile defense system. Washington rejects the possibility of introducing any restrictions on their anti-missile activities.
"[The build-up of the US global missile defense program] can and is already leading to serious implications in the security sphere, violates the strategic balance of forces in the world, provokes an arms race, including missile ones," Zakharova said.
Commenting on media reports about Washington's plans to allocate $18 billion to develop missile interceptors, the diplomat said that this was the cost of only one program calculated by the Pentagon to create, deploy and maintain promising interceptors, which are supposed to replace the strategic silo interceptor missiles, currently deployed in the US.
Zakharova also said that the US' attempts to disguise the development of a new global missile defense program as a defense project was "nothing but a smoke screen."
"Building up missile defense capabilities, the US, above all, seeks to gain a decisive advantage by creating conditions for delivering a first strike to the enemy, protecting itself from retaliation," she added.
