MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2018) Russia's new strategic weapons will help to preserve the strategic balance of power with the United States despite the a record increase in US military spending, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at this year's extended meeting of the Defense Ministry board on Tuesday.
In August, US President Donald Trump signed the $717 billion Fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the US military budget for 2019 was 15 times bigger than Russia's planned military spending for the same year.
US PLANNED WITHDRAWAL FROM INF TREATY
In recent years, Moscow and Washington have regularly accused each other of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Earlier in December, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would suspend its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty if Russia was not in full compliance with the treaty within 60 days. Moscow said it strictly complied with its obligations under the deal, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressing that Russia had very serious questions regarding the implementation of the treaty by Washington.
Putin said at the meeting that Russia's new missiles did not breach the nuclear deal.
"We have some other weapons ... the air-based Kh-101 missiles. In principle, they can be categorized as strategic arms, because Tu-160 is a supersonic bomber. But judging by the range of 4,500 [kilometers, or 2,800 miles], it is an intermediate-range missile. Maybe this was of concern to our partners, but this is not a breach of the INF Treaty," the Russian president stressed.
The president added that the United States might be worried over the fact that Russia had short-range and intermediate-range missiles, both air-based and sea-based.
"The sea-based ones are well-known, they are Kalibr missiles that were used from the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, where they worked very well, successfully, accurately, and as they should. Something had to be perfected, and their use against terrorists in Syria showed that it was right," Putin pointed out.
According to Putin, Russia will have no difficulty in taking additional steps to ensure its security and creating land-based missiles as a response to the US potential withdrawal from the INF.
"If [Washington withdraws], well, we will have to respond accordingly. As you understand, we have air-based and sea-based systems, so it will not be difficult to carry out the corresponding research and development and put them on the ground, if necessary," Putin noted, stressing that the planned US withdrawal raised serious concerns because the INF played a stabilizing role.
Putin also said it was not clear why the Soviet leadership decided to disarm unilaterally upon the signing of the INF Treaty with the United States in 1987.
"Let me remind you that it [INF Treaty] was signed in 1987. I already said, in my opinion, maybe even to this audience, what did the signed agreement mean? It meant that medium and shorter range missiles were eliminated, and these are missiles from 500 kilometers to 5,000 kilometers. Ground-based missiles were eliminated, and the Soviet Union did not have others, the United States had both sea and air-based missiles, but we did not. Therefore, from the point of view of the Soviet Union, this was a unilateral disarmament. Only God knows why did the leadership of the Soviet Union agree to this unilateral disarmament," Putin underlined.
HUGE STEP FORWARD IN ENSURING RUSSIA'S SECURITY
In 2018, the Russian Armed Forces made "a very serious, huge step forward" in ensuring security of the country, Putin said. According to the Russian president, Russia's new weapons will allow the country to maintain the balance of power with the United States despite the difference in defense budgets.
"[Russia is expected to cut defense budget in percentage to GDP]. But it will not harm security, because the main expenses for the disparity in the development of weapons have already been made in previous years. We now need to maintain the strategic balance. How is it possible? We are getting new weapons that nobody else has," Putin stressed.
The capacity of Russia's nuclear triad has been improved, with the share of modern weapons rising to 82 percent, the president underlined.
"The nuclear triad, which plays a key role in maintaining global superiority, has been noticeably strengthened. The share of modern weapons in this sector is 82 percent. Serious breakthrough has been made in the development of the latest, unparalleled weapons, which were mentioned in the Federal Assembly address on March 1 this year," Putin said.
Putin spoke about the start of the serial production of the Avangard missile system, testing of the newest intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat and a new hypersonic missile system called Kinzhal (Dagger) as well as Peresvet laser systems.
"These weapons greatly increase the capacities of the army and navy, and thereby reliably and unconditionally ensure the security of Russia for the coming decades, strengthen the balance of power and hence the stability in the world," the president added.
Putin said the key task of the Russian Armed Forces in 2019 was to increase the capacity of the country's strategic nuclear forces.
BALANCED DEVELOPMENT OF ARMED FORCES
In 2018, all branches of Russia's armed forces were developing in a balanced way in accordance with the adopted plans and the new state armament program, Putin said.
"It is also important that the level of operational and combat training has significantly increased ... Six large-scale inspections this year confirmed this, including the ability to quickly transfer forces and funds at a distance of up to 7,000 kilometers [4,349 miles]," he underlined, stressing the need to consolidate the achieved results.
The development of the Russian Armed Forces should also focus on unmanned systems, digital technologies, artificial intelligence and robotization, Putin stressed.
DEFENSE PROCUREMENT AND MILITARY EDUCATION
In his speech, Putin noted the positive results of the meetings held twice a year between the Defense Ministry and defense industry enterprises on the state's defense procurement and pointed at the active development of the military education system in Russia.
"I would like to note the active development of the military education system. More than 12,000 professionally trained officers joined the forces and the fleet [this year]," Putin stressed.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the meeting that the Russian Armed Forces had accomplished all objectives set for 2018.
"The increase of combat capabilities by 11 percent was ensured, and the country's defense capabilities were ensured on the set level. The increase of quantitative and qualitative key indices could be seen, compared to 2017," the minister stressed.
He also said that the Russian Armed Forces had been strengthening their capacity in 2018 to counteract the US global anti-missile system.
"To counteract the United States deploying a global anti-missile system, the [Russian] Armed Forces are enhancing their combat potential," Shoigu underlined.
Next year, they will conduct a total of 18,500 military exercises of different scale, including the Grom exercise of the country's strategic nuclear troops, Shoigu noted, adding that over 30 launchers carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles Yars and Avangard should be put on combat duty in Russia in 2019. Overall, the share of modern weapons used by the Russian Armed Forces should reach 67 percent next year.
As for the ties with other countries, Shoigu said Russia prioritized defense cooperation with Algeria, China, India, and Vietnam. Speaking about NATO, the minister said the alliance had increased the number of reconnaissance flights on western and southwestern directions over the past year by 10 percent.
Speaking about Syria, Putin stressed that following the defeat of the largest militant groups, the situation in the country had stabilized. At the same time, he stressed that the "uncompromising" fight against terrorists would be continued.
Meanwhile, Shoigu said that the frequency of Russia's military flights in Syria dropped from 110 missions a day to 2-4 flights per week.
According to Shoigu, the most significant result achieved in Syria in the spring and summer of 2018 was the Syrian government taking control, practically without the use of force, of Damascus suburbs, including Eastern Ghouta, Eastern Qalamoun and Yarmuk as well as the northern regions of the Homs province and Suwayda, Deraa and Quneitra provinces.
Shoigu said that since 2015, over 1.5 million Syrians refugees and internally displaced persons returned to their former places of residence in Syria.
