MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. In the foreign policy part of his state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed the policy of preventive deterrence, which he presented to both houses of the Russian parliament a year ago, the science director of the Valdai Club Foundation, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, Fyodor Lukyanov.
"In a very curt but unequivocal way the president confirmed that the policy he had outlined in his last year’s message, which had a very strong foreign policy section, still remains in force. It is confined to self-reliance and preventive deterrence," he said.
Lukyanov remarked that Putin’s message was devoted mostly to the economy and social sphere, while other foreign policy aspects were less important.
"Foreign policy was obviously of secondary importance," Lukyanov said. "The president focused on one main theme - the preservation of peace and security. As far as everything else, such as integration (with Belarus), is concerned, he was very brief and confined himself to making ritual statements. He had no intention to make a foreign policy speech. The emphasis was on the theme he regarded as the most important one for the country’s life."
Lukyanov pointed out that even after the United States’ suspension of its participation in the INF Treaty Putin’s priority in global security matters was preventive deterrence, and not an arms race.
"Is this what one calls an arms race? On the contrary, in fact he stressed the idea that an arms race would make no sense, because there is no parity anymore," Lukyanov said. "The arms race was an attempt to catch up and overtake to maintain parity. Now the very term parity is devoid of any meaning and content. For this reason there will be no arms race."
Lukyanov described as quite natural the decision to target weapons not only against the countries that might agree to host intermediate and shorter range missiles, but at the United States, too, should Russia feel a threat to its security. "In a confrontation the missiles are targeted at the main facilities. It is not a secret. The president just voiced a reminder. This is what preventive deterrence is about."
Putin about the United States
In his annual message to the Federal Assembly on Wednesday Putin said that Russia was not interested in confrontation with the United States but would make an instant response as soon as threats to it become real. It would target weapons not only at the countries where Washington might deploy its missiles, but at the United States, too. He directly accused the United States of violating and destroying the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty.
He invited the US counterparts to calculate the speed and range of flight of Russia’s new weapons before making decisions that might threaten Russia.
In 2018, the Russian president’s message to the Federal Assembly was devoted mostly to foreign policy affairs and enjoyed priority attention from the Russian and foreign mass media. Putin reviewed Russia’s newly-developed weapons capable of maintaining national defenses against the background of a crumbling system of global security.