At the Valdai Discussion Group in Sochi on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a long and combative speech. He made a strong warning about nuclear testing and stepped up his attacks on the West as the conflict in Ukraine continues.
Warning about nuclear tests
Putin’s most alarming warning was that Russia will test a nuclear weapon if any other nuclear country did it first. He said that Russia had already seen signs that “some countries” are getting ready to do these kinds of tests. This statement makes the situation with nuclear weapons far more dangerous around the world and brings the topic of testing to the front for the first time in years.
New START and New Missiles: Controlling Nuclear Weapons
Putin talked about the New START treaty, which is the last nuclear arms control agreement between the US and Russia. It will end in February.
He repeated his offer to extend the New START pact for another year. Right now, the treaty restricts both countries to 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 missiles and bombers.
Trust in Nuclear Shield: He said that Russia is “confident about our nuclear shield” and that “if they don’t need it, we don’t need it either.”
New Missile Complex: Putin said that any future talks about arms limitation must take into consideration Russia’s new Oreshnik complex missile. The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that is said to have a non-nuclear hypersonic capability and is meant to be very hard to stop. Russia sees this as changing the strategic balance.
The Russian President said that if China is included in any future nuclear arms control talks, the nuclear weapons of the UK, France, and China should also be taken into account.
Answer to “Paper Tiger” Putin clearly answered US President Donald Trump’s recent statements dubbing Russia a “paper tiger.” The Russian President didn’t agree with the term and instead said that NATO might be the “paper tiger.” He told the West to deal with Russia if they think it is weak. He said that Russia is battling against “almost all the NATO countries” in Ukraine and is still making progress.
New Warning of Escalation with Tomahawk Missiles
The Russian leader repeated a statement he had made before, telling the US that giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles would lead to a “dangerous new escalation” and a “completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation” in US-Russia ties.
Condemnation of Europe and “Piracy”
Putin again criticized Europe, saying that its politicians were using the prospect of war to justify their increased military spending.
“Piracy” Warning: He promised a “significant” reaction to what he dubbed “piracy” when the French Navy stopped and boarded the oil tanker Boracay, which is said to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that is getting over EU sanctions.
Tension with NATO: The incident comes after a lot of drone sightings and airspace violations in European countries, including Denmark, which European governments blame on Russia. This makes the situation between Moscow and Europe even worse.