‘(In the United States) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint....CONTINUE READING
Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it [nuclear confrontation]… but we are ready for this,’ he said, before going on to add that Russia’s nuclear triad of land, sea and air threats was ‘much more’ advanced and modern than those touted by America.
His statement is another blunt warning to the West ahead of a presidential vote this week in which he is all but certain to win another six-year term. ‘Our triad, the nuclear triad, it is more modern than any other triad. Only we and the Americans actually have such triads.
And we have advanced much more here,’ Putin said in an interview on state TV. In his TV interview ahead of the election, which takes place between Friday and Sunday – Putin also said British and American missiles caused damage to Russia in the Ukraine war, but did not change the situation on the battlefield.
The Kremlin chief also declared that even sending foreign troops to Ukraine would not help Kyiv. ‘If we talk about official military contingents of foreign countries, I am sure it will not change the situation on the battlefield. That is the most important thing. Just as supplying arms does not change anything,’ Putin said.
There has been military personnel from Western countries in Ukraine for a long time, he said, acting as advisers and mercenaries. Putin was speaking to one of his most ardent TV propagandists Dmitry Kiselyov (pictured).
He also voiced confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and held the door open for talks, emphasising any deal would require firm guarantees from the West. Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons, has the world’s biggest store of nuclear warheads.
Putin controls about 5,580 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Of those about 1,200 are retired but largely intact and around 4,380 are stockpiled for use by long-range strategic launchers and shorter-range tactical nuclear forces, according to the FAS.
Of the stockpiled warheads, 1,710 strategic warheads are deployed – about 870 on land-based ballistic missiles, about 640 on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and possibly 200 at heavy bomber bases, FAS said.
Such numbers mean that both Moscow could destroy the world many times over. Post-Soviet Russia has not carried out a nuclear test, but Putin last year signed a law withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and has said Russia would consider testing a nuclear weapon if the United States did.
Putin spoke as footage emerged of long-range strategic bombers Tu-22M3 – part of his nuclear strike force – being sent up over the Baltic Sea in NATO’s backyard in a drill.
The bombers were accompanied by MiG-31I fighters armed with hypersonic Dagger – or Kinzhal – missiles which can also carry nuclear as well as conventional warheads.
Su-30SM and Su-35S fighters escorted the strike planes. The flight was intercepted by Swedish fighter jets, marking a significant moment in their integration with NATO. The Swedish JAS-39 Gripen jets stormed the skies alongside German and Belgian aircraft on Monday morning after their flag was hoisted at NATO headquarters, in Brussels.
In a show of operational readiness, the JAS-39 Gripens were scrambled twice on March 11 to identify and intercept the Russian military aircraft. ‘At certain stages of their flight, the airplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces tracked some fighter jets of foreign states,’ Putin’s defence ministry confirmed.
Sweden’s recent accession to NATO has increased the alliance’s hold on the Baltic where Putin also has two key ports in St Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
This is likely a reason for the flight over the Baltic in a warning to the West. The Russian planes also flew over the Caspian Sea and the MiG-31I crews performed in-flight refuelling.
‘All flights were carried out in strict compliance with international rules of using airspace. Long-range aviation pilots regularly fly over the international waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, Black and Baltic seas, and the Pacific Ocean,’ said Russian long-range aviation’s commander, Lieutenant-General Sergey Kobylash.
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