WASHINGTON, September 6. /TASS/. The United States is not apt to accept Moscow’s proposal to buy its advanced missile technologies, including hypersonic missiles, a senior US administration official told TASS on Friday.
"There is little reason for the United States to consider the purchase of advanced missile technology from Russia. The United States has a major comparative advantage over Russia in the safe development, testing, and employment of missile technology," he said when asked to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pronouncements made at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday that Moscow was ready to share its advanced missile technologies with Washington to maintain a strategic military balance between the two powers.
The Russian leader raised this matter at his latest personal meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in Japan’s Osaka this June. The Russian president noted that the United States had so far given no answer to Russia’s proposals aiming to prevent an arms race.
The US administration official refused to answer other TASS questions concerning Putin’s statements on the necessity to enhance the arms control regime and the lack of the United States’ response. The US government source made it clear that Washington would refrain from comment on Trump’s conversations with other world leaders.
Putin’s remarks at the Eastern Economic Forum
In his speech at the forum, Putin stressed that the situation in the sphere of strategic stability was growing tenser globally.
"So far, our American partners have been silent to all our initiatives to continue contacts in the area of disarmament and restraint of the arms race. As a matter of fact, there is nothing new about it. We met with the American partners last time in Osaka and raised the question of how our new weapons, including hypersonic missile systems, could be categorized in a general agreement, bearing in mind the fact that no country in the world, including the United States, can boast such weapons," Putin said.
"I told Donald the following, ‘If you want, we can sell you some and this way we will equal everything.’ But truth be told, they are saying that they will soon produce it themselves. They possibly will, but why waste money when we already spent some and can get something back, while not hurting our security but rather creating balance," he said obviously referring to the issue of whether Russia’s newest defense technologies be covered by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START. "Russia is ready for this dialogue in any case. However, we have not received a clear answer from the Americans," Putin added.