Russia may borrow US idea of disarming strike — Putin

Russian Politics & Diplomacy December 09, 2022, 19:36

Also, Vladimir Putin pointed out that there were plans for creating a potential for delivering a pre-emptive disarming strike with hypersonic systems

BISHKEK, December 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia might give thought to borrowing some US ideas on how to ensure its security, including the tactic of delivering a disarming strike.

"First, the United States has a pre-emptive strike theory," Putin told the media on Friday. "Second, they are developing a disarming strike system. What is that? It is a system of attacking command and control centers with modern high-tech means with the aim to incapacitate them, and so on."

Putin said that in particular he was referring to cruise missiles, including ground-based ones, which Moscow once agreed to scrap. "We eliminated ours, while the Americans were smarter at that time," he continued. "They scrapped the ground-based missiles, but retained the air- and sea-launched ones. They still have them, upgraded and even more efficient."

Also, Putin pointed out that there were plans for creating a potential for delivering a pre-emptive disarming strike with hypersonic systems.

"So far the United States do not have them, while we do," he added.

"Since we are on the subject of a disarming strike, then maybe we should consider borrowing the ideas of our US partners on how to ensure our own security, shouldn't we?" Putin said. We're just thinking about it. After all, no one was shy about talking about this out loud for years.

Counterstrike

Putin also recalled that in the United States "a pre-emptive strike is described " in its strategies. "Here it’s different. Our strategy formulates a response to an attack," Putin recalled. He explained that should the Russian missile attack warning system receive a signal of a missile attack, from the Russian side "hundreds of missiles would be launched."

"It will be impossible to stop them. But this will be a retaliatory [strike]. What does this mean? It means that the fall of enemy warheads on the territory of Russia is inevitable. They will fall anyway. True, there will be nothing left of the enemy, because intercepting hundreds of missiles will be impossible. This is a deterrent, of course. A serious deterrent," Putin said, adding that Russia regularly conducted nuclear force exercises.

"But if a potential adversary thinks that it is possible to use the theory of a preventive strike, while we do not, then this prompts us to give thought to the threats that such ideas in the defense doctrines of other countries pose to us," Putin concluded.

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