MOSCOW, February 29. /TASS/. Russia plans to develop high-precision weapons, but won’t engage in an arms race that the West is trying to impose, said Viktor Bondarev, a senior lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament.
He made the remarks after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s said in his State of the Nation address that Western countries are trying to drag Russia into an arms race and "repeat a trick they managed to pull off with the Soviet Union in the 1980s."
The lawmaker, who is the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, said: "We intend to develop high-precision weapons and new types of weapons. We do not intend to participate in a mindless arms race."
Bondarev also commented on the president’s statement that any talks on strategic stability with the US should take into account Russia’s interests.
"It is fair that we are thinking about Russia’s national security. The US does not hold much regard for us as it pursues its strategic goals. One of them is to defeat Russia. In a situation like this, Russia is forced to treat the US as an enemy and has to build up its armaments," the lawmaker said.