Putin says Russia is strengthening its nuclear arsenal

Russia is ready to hold security negotiations with NATO countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, while affirming Moscow’s intention to strengthen its national nuclear arsenal.

Referring to security in the Eurasian region, Putin said Friday that the Kremlin was “ready for a broad international debate on these key and vital issues – both with our colleagues in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the CIS , EAEU, BRICS and other international countries. associations – including European and NATO states,” according to a Google-translated report from Russian state news agency Tass.

“Of course, when they are ready,” the Russian president added during a meeting with graduates of military universities.

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov signaled that Russia’s willingness to engage in security negotiations with the United States was specifically conditioned on simultaneous discussions on the war in Ukraine.

“We are open to dialogue, but to a broad and comprehensive dialogue that covers all dimensions, including the dimension related to the conflict around Ukraine, the involvement of the United States in this conflict,” Peskov said, according to a message translated by Google. report.

His comments come in reaction to the possibility of discussing nuclear risks with Washington outside of the Ukrainian conflict. CNBC contacted the US State Department to see if the White House would be willing to lead negotiations on these terms.

Russia has so far been largely isolated from Western-led diplomacy to resolve the conflict with kyiv – and was recently not invited to the Ukraine Peace Summit on June 15-16.

Russia’s top security official, Dmitry Medvedev, separately said in a Telegram update translated by Google that discussions on a new treaty on limiting nuclear firepower with the United States would only be possible when Washington would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine and would block its admission to NATO.

Moscow has repeatedly cited kyiv’s ambition to join the Western-led military alliance as a threat to its own security and one of the reasons for Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. kyiv has requested membership but cannot join the coalition while an active conflict is raging on its territories.

“Everything should develop according to a completely different scenario,” Medvedev wrote, envisioning a scenario in which the United States would enter a state of “total psychosis” out of fear of Russian bomb and missile attacks.

“Let all their elite worry! Let them tremble and tremble,” he added.

The prospect of nuclear escalation has weighed heavily on the NATO alliance’s tactical decision-making as it considers the next steps in its support for kyiv. Russia, which inherited the vast majority of weapons of mass destruction from the collapsed Soviet Union, has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal – with a total inventory of 5,580 warheads as of March between military stockpiles and reserves, according to the Federation of American Scientists. By comparison, the United States has a combined stockpile of 5,044 nuclear warheads.

“We plan to further develop the nuclear triad as a guarantee of strategic deterrence and preservation of the balance of power in the world,” Putin said on Friday, according to Reuters. The “nuclear triad” refers to Russia’s ability to launch nuclear missiles from land, sea and air.

In February 2023, Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the key New START nuclear treaty with the United States, without completely withdrawing his country from the agreement. The agreement, which entered into force in 2011 and extended for five years in 2021, requires Russia and the United States to deploy no more than 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles and a maximum of 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads.

The agreement also provides for up to 18 annual inspections that the two countries can carry out on their respective strategic nuclear weapons sites, in order to verify their compliance.

Since suspending its participation in the treaty, Russia has rejected US proposals for dialogue on nuclear arms control, while the White House continues to support Ukraine militarily.

“We do not see the slightest interest on the part of the United States or NATO in resolving the Ukrainian conflict and listening to Russia’s concerns,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a conference press release in January, according to Reuters.

Reinforcing his warlike rhetoric, Putin this year warned NATO of the potential for nuclear conflict if the coalition pursues French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion of deploying Western troops to Ukraine.

“(The West) must realize that we also have weapons capable of hitting targets on their territory. All this really threatens conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they understand?,” Putin said in his annual state of the nation address in February.