From Pravda: The creation of the US missile defense system makes Russia develop offensive arms, Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin said at a news conference in Moscow.
“The problem is that the USA is building the missile defense system while Russia is not – this is the problem. The system stipulates the use of new offensive arms, which ruins the balance of forces in the world,” Putin said.
The prime minister added that Moscow was ready to share the information about its offensive arms with the US in return to the information about Washington’s plans in the field of missile defense…
“The issues of the missile defense and offensive arms are interconnected. If there is no development in missile defense, a dangerous situation occurs. Our partners may feel absolutely safe once they create the anti-missile shield. They may decide that they can do anything they want. This may ruin the balance of forces, and they may start acting aggressively both in real politics and economy,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia’s intention to develop offensive arms must not be an obstacle for resetting the relations with the United States. (photo: Pravda)
From the AP: The U.S. State Department rejected Putin’s call, saying the START successor treaty would only deal with strategic offensive arms.
“While the United States has long agreed that there is a relationship between missile offense and defense, we believe the START follow-on agreement is not the appropriate vehicle for addressing it,” spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.
“We have agreed to continue to discuss the topic of missile defense with Russia in a separate venue,” he said.