Russia dislikes arms race but has to protect itself: Putin

7/5/2019 - 6:38:01 PM

Russia is not willing to get dragged into a new arms race but it must ensure its security, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published Thursday (July 4).

According to the interview posted on the Kremlin website, Putin said the United States had a military budget of more than US$700 billion, compared with Russia's roughly US$48 billion.

"That is why we had to develop advanced weapons and equipment -- in response to the increasing military expenditure and the clearly destructive actions of the United States," said the president.

Putin said it was not Russia but the United States that started the breakdown of the international security system by unilaterally withdrawing in 2002 from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the cornerstone of the entire arms control architecture.

Russia approached the United States more than once, suggesting that both sides sort out issues concerning the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, but was refused, he said.

Washington does not seem ready to discuss the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that will expire in early 2021 or the possibility of elaborating a new full-scale agreement, the Russian president said.

"Last October, we offered the United States to adopt a joint statement on the inadmissibility of a nuclear war and the recognition of its devastating consequences. There has been no response," Putin said.

The US administration has recently begun to reflect on the possibility of restarting dialogue with Russia on a broad strategic agenda, and reaching concrete agreements in the field of arms control would help improve international stability, he said.

"Russia has the political will to do this. Now it is for the United States to make a decision," Putin said, adding that he reiterated this position at a recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Osaka, Japan.

Removing “bottlenecks” in global problems

The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil emphasised the need to reform global governance institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council. The meeting is also an opportunity for G20 to find solutions to a series of hot issues facing the world, such as poverty, climate change, and conflict.

ASEAN FMs issue statement on maintaining, promoting stability in maritime sphere in Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on December 30 issued a statement on maintaining and promoting stability in the maritime sphere in Southeast Asia.

Optimistic signals of the world economy

The world economy has overcome a challenging year, but has proven more resilient than expected. The Financial Times (UK) commented that 2023 was a positive year for the world economy as the economic surprise index collated by Citigroup shew that actual data have underwhelmed economists’ predictions for much of the past months. These economic trends are the basis for optimism about the world economy in 2024.