AN EMERGING NEW COLD WAR

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has pledged to add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to Russia’s nuclear arsenal in 2015, sending a clear warning message to NATO amid escalating tensions with the West.

Mr Putin made the announcement during his opening address at the Army-2015 Expo, an international military forum based near Moscow.

Mr Putin said that ‘more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defence systems’ would be added to Russia’s nuclear arsenal this year.

The Army-2015 fair is held to show off and parade the latest developments in Russian military hardware, and Mr Putin promised his generals an array of other new weapons – including the advanced Armata tanks that were shown off at a Red Square ceremony last month.

The president also announced that the military was beginning testing a new system of long-range early warning radar ‘to monitor in the western direction’.

Few countries in the world are known to possess land-based missiles capable of crossing continents. The US operates 450 Minuteman missiles across three bases, while Russia’s existing arsenal is believed to be slightly greater. Russia’s pending upgrade will alarm the West as stipulations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are specifically aimed at reducing arsenals.

ICBMs are needed to deliver nuclear warheads over long distances, and some are capable of delivering more than one. Though Russia is less than open about its military stockpiles, it is thought to possess more than 8,000 warheads in total.

Mr Putin’s announcement, which included a general pledge to continue Russia’s ‘massive’ military rearmament programme, comes amid the worst tensions between the West and Russia in decades.

Russian defence ministry official General Yuri Yakubov has said that US proposals to bolster an allied army on Polish soil would be ‘the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War’.

He said: ‘Russia will have no option but to build up its forces and resources on the Western strategic front.’

18 June, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would have to defend itself if threatened, adding that NATO is ‘coming to its borders’.

At a meeting outside of Moscow with Sauli Niinisto, his Finnish counterpart, Mr Putin said: ‘If someone puts some of our territories under threat that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates.’

After being asked about Moscow and NATO both boosting their firepower in the region, Mr Putin said: ‘As soon as some threat comes from an adjoining state, Russia must react appropriately and carry out its defence policy in such a way as to neutralise a threat against it… It’s NATO that is coming to our borders and not us moving somewhere.’

But he added that observers should not ‘blow anything out of proportion’ with regard to the perceived threat from NATO.’

‘Of course we will analyse everything, follow this carefully. So far I don’t see anything that would force us to worry especially.’

The earlier announcement by Mr Putin that Russia will boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year was slammed by NATO as ‘sabre-rattling’.