MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to hold a "technological duel" with the West was a response to claims about the vulnerability of the Oreshnik missile system, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"It was an answer to a question. The question was that experts in the West claim that this weapon system has vulnerabilities," the Kremlin spokesman said in response to a TASS question.

On December 19, during the combined Direct Line question-and-answer session and year-end press conference, the head of state offered Western experts who doubt the Russian Oreshnik missile a so-called duel: choose a target in Kiev, concentrate air defenses there and try to intercept the strike.

Peskov noted that Putin thus meant that the Oreshnik missile is a generation ahead of all existing weapons, while not being a nuclear weapon itself. "This is really an absolute revolution in weapons technology. This is exactly what the president was talking about," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.