MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. The United States is trying to downplay the potential of Russian weapons, as it has been unable to catch up with Russia in the development of hypersonic systems, Vladimir Yermakov, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, said in an interview with TASS.
"With regard to hypersonic systems, the Americans feel clearly aggrieved. For several years now, they have been trying unsuccessfully to catch up with Russia in the field of hypersonic systems, but they have not yet created a single satisfactory and properly tested prototype. Hence their attempts to belittle the potential of Russian systems," he said.
Yermakov drew attention to the fact that the West had launched an information campaign in an attempt to question the effectiveness of Russia's hypersonic weapons. In particular, such publications in the Western media concerned Kinzhal missiles, which Russia was already using in the special operation in Ukraine.
"This is sheer propaganda and an attempt to impose its narratives on the world community by black PR methods. This is how any Western comments on the effectiveness of Russian weapons in the special operation zone should be viewed," Yermakov pointed out.
The US, by spreading this false information, is acting in the interests of its own arms manufacturing industry and trying to promote its own anti-missile systems, which are supplied to Kiev.
"The US is interested in an exaggerated demonstration of the reliability and high-technology features of exactly its air defense and anti-missile systems, being supplied to the Kiev regime and confronting Russian weapons during the special military operation," he added.
"All bombastic statements by Western journalists should be carefully sorted out. Take it from me: the few surviving Western fighters who happened to be near the facilities destroyed by our missile weapons and assessed their effectiveness, have conveyed quite realistic comments to their colleagues in the Western capitals," Yermakov concluded.
Kinzhal is the newest Russian air-launched system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles boasting low radar visibility and high maneuverability. It is designed to destroy land and sea targets. The Kinzhal systems have been on trial combat duty in the Russian Armed Forces since December 2017. Officially, the first combat use of these missiles took place on March 18, 2022 during the special military operation in Ukraine.