MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Russia strongly rejects accusations of violating international laws concerning strategic stability, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We strongly reject any accusations of Russia violating some international laws concerning arms control," he said. "Russia has been, is and will remain committed to all of its international obligations," Peskov added.
"The Sarmat missile has already been successfully tested, as well as other systems the president mentioned," he went on to say, adding that it was part of the country’s nuclear triad. "It does not threaten anyone in any way, as the president explained in his address," Peskov noted.
The Russian presidential spokesman pointed out that the national nuclear doctrine explicitly clarified the reasons for using nuclear weapons, which included a nuclear attack on Russia or an attack involving other kinds of weapons that would threaten the country’s existence. "Our nuclear doctrine determines no other reasons for the use of nuclear weapons," Peskov stressed.
Moscow is determined to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, including the United States, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday commenting on President Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation Address.
"Russia was and remains a country that seeks mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries of the world based on mutual respect and mutual trust," Peskov said, noting that the Russian leader had spoken about this, but "due to some emotional reasons" this was unnoticed.
Peskov called to pay attention to the key idea of the address, namely making a technological breakthrough that will inevitably occur in the world. "In this context, Russia’s goal is to be able to make this breakthrough and we have everything required for that," he noted.
"This world is now following a leapfrog trajectory of development and it is crucial to ride this technological wave," he stressed.
"Certainly, a country that sees technological breakthrough in all areas as a priority task cannot definitely be a state that somehow initiates the arms race," Peskov noted.
Russia’s efforts to develop new weapon systems do not disrupt nuclear parity in the world, he added. "We have absolute parity," the presidential spokesman said.
Commenting on a journalist’s words that Russia is coming up with weapons, from which the other side cannot defend itself, the Kremlin spokesman said: "The other side also has the armaments, against which Russia is incapable of protecting itself and this is what parity means. This is a guarantee that weapons won’t be used. After all, Russia is not developing armaments that enemy strategic forces will neutralize and this is very important to understand," the Kremlin spokesman said.
Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly has no militaristic nature while the new types of weapons that were shown are a guarantee of maintaining nuclear parity in the world, he added.
"This cannot be considered in any way as the beginning of an arms race because this is nothing else but Russia’s response to the dismantling of the ABM Treaty and the withdrawal of the United States from the ABM Treaty and its response to the quite active process of creating the global missile shield, which was obviously able in a perspective to disrupt the strategic parity, the nuclear parity and actually neutralize the strategic forces of the Russian Federation," Putin’s spokesman said.
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The new types of weapons shown in a video during the delivery of the State of the Nation Address "are a guarantee of maintaining strategic parity, which is necessary in the interests of peace in the entire world and in the interests of stability," he said.
"Russia has no plans to be drawn into any arms race," Peskov stressed.
Peskov called on mass media representatives to carefully read the address and "understand the key points that the president highlighted."
"This is not a confrontational address. This is the address aimed at development, boosting Russians’ prosperity and openness for cooperation with all countries of the world for the sake of making our technological breakthrough," Peskov said. The presidential spokesman noted that there weren’t any disproportions regarding the time devoted to economic and military issues. "The military part came along with showing videos and this made an impression of a long time," he said, adding that the discussion of economic and social issues had been longer.
"This cannot be considered in any way as the beginning of an arms race because this is nothing else but Russia’s response to the dismantling of the ABM Treaty and the withdrawal of the United States from the ABM Treaty and its response to the quite active process of creating the global missile shield, which was obviously able in a perspective to disrupt the strategic parity, the nuclear parity and actually neutralize the strategic forces of the Russian Federation," Putin’s spokesman said.
The new types of weapons shown in a video during the delivery of the State of the Nation Address "are a guarantee of maintaining strategic parity, which is necessary in the interests of peace in the entire world and in the interests of stability," he said.
]Responding to a question about whether the Kremlin feared stronger international isolation after declaring "the military part" of the address, the Kremlin spokesman said "this is a wrong and exaggerated perception of the viewpoint the president outlined in his address."
As the Kremlin spokesman said, Putin gave explanations of this viewpoint in an interview with NBC TV Channel, a part of which was aired on March 2.
The Kremlin spokesman drew attention to the fact that "the deterring aspect of the nuclear triad from the viewpoint of international stability and security is well known and is understood by all."
"Back in 2003, 2004 and 2005, as the president said, Russia diligently warned the United States against such actions [the expansion of the missile shield], pointing out that Russia would be forced to pursue the course of restoring this parity," the Kremlin spokesman said.
In his opinion, "this is what the president spoke about yesterday and this is a guarantee of maintaining strategic parity."
"Putin noted, and what’s more, he started to speak about this back in 2003-2005, that Russia would not respond symmetrically to the US plans and the ongoing work to deploy the missile shield. The point at issue is an asymmetric response, the development of strike systems capable of breaching any missile defense systems and that will be incomparably cheaper in their development and serial production and this is what the president said yesterday," Peskov explained.
That is why, "it is wrong to perceive this as some militaristic statement." The Kremlin spokesman also said he considered it wrong to perceive the presentation of new weapon systems as the basic part of the State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly.
The abstract graphic images used in computer-simulated promo videos showing Russia’s newest weapons, screened during President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Federal Assembly, were by no means related to specific countries, he stressed.
"I did not see a map of Florida [there]," Peskov said. "I see no grounds to say that some states of the United States were used there."
"No maps were used at all," Peskov said, adding that the videos were computer-simulated. "There were very abstract geographic images by no means pegged to any specific country," he stated.
Peskov recalled that as he spoke about Russia’s newly-developed weapons in his address Putin stressed that "Russia is not going to attack any country."
"These weapons pose no threat to anyone who does not intend to attack our country," Peskov repeated Putin’s statement.
Computer graphics in videos on missiles shown during the address, he added.
In his address, Putin noted himself that he spoke about "the state-of-the-art developments that had been declassified only yesterday" and "due to well-known reasons" Russia cannot show the armaments in full, Peskov said.
He commented on remarks of some reporters that the graphics was "less advanced" than the missiles. "So, the graphics was used," Peskov noted.
The annual presidential address on Thursday was for the first time accompanied by videos projected to large screens. As Putin dwelt upon Russia’s defense capabilities and the development of the armed forces, several computerized videos illustrating the parameters of newest weapons were projected to them. Some showed hypothetical flight paths of new missiles.