Russia concerned that the US is increasing the role of nuclear weapons for military purposes
(Baonghean.vn) - A senior Russian official expressed concern on October 22 that Washington is increasing the role of nuclear weapons in its military plans, as part of the Trump administration's campaign to increase power to ensure "the superiority of the US military over the rest of the world".
The official also rejected US accusations that Moscow violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Speaking at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Disarmament Committee, Andrei Belousov, Deputy Director of the Department of Nuclear Arms Control and Non-Proliferation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stressed that Moscow is particularly concerned about the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) of the Trump administration.
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| Mr. Andrei Belousov - Deputy Director of the Department for Nuclear Arms Control and Non-Proliferation of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Getty |
According to Mr. Belousov, the NPR, announced in early February, facilitates “the creation of limited nuclear weapons, thereby lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.” The Russian diplomat asserted that the US move “demonstrates the return of the concept of ‘limited nuclear war’.”
Mr. Belousov pointed out that Russia has repeatedly called for “the adoption of appropriate conditions that would allow us to take practical measures to make the world nuclear-weapon-free.” However, he stressed, Moscow also needs to pay attention to “current strategic realities.”
According to Mr. Belousov, in addition to strengthening its nuclear arsenal, the US is also developing global ballistic missile defense weapons.
The Trump administration still wants to pursue the deployment of weapons in space, increasing the “qualitative and quantitative” imbalance in the field of conventional weapons, as well as developing the “prompt global strike concept,” which would allow US precision-guided conventional weapons to strike anywhere on Earth within an hour, Belousov added.
Mr. Belousov criticized that the Trump administration explained the plan to “massively strengthen the US nuclear potential” by referring to the increased role of nuclear weapons in Russia's military doctrine.
“However, no military doctrine or statement by the political or military leadership of the Russian Federation makes such an assumption. In fact, we have reduced the role of nuclear weapons to the lowest level in history,” the Russian diplomat asserted.
Mr. Belousov assessed that the US accusation that Russia is not complying with the 1987 nuclear weapons treaty is “baseless”, but stressed that Moscow is ready to cooperate with Washington regarding the INF. Mr. Belousov affirmed that the US plan to withdraw from the INF would be “a short-sighted and extremely dangerous step for international peace”./.
