Last week, in reply to Russia, western partners made a number of harsh statements expressing rejection of the plans of our country to strengthen our nuclear missile potential. Such was the reaction to the words from the mouth of President Vladimir Putin during the opening ceremonies of the International Military-Technical Forum “ARMY-2015” in Kubinka near Moscow.
“In the current year the composition of nuclear forces will be replenished by forty new intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of overcoming any, even the most technically advanced, missile defense systems.”
The reaction from the side of the General Secretary of NATO Jens Stoltenberg followed shortly, labeling Putin’s statement “nuclear sabre-rattling”, “unjustified”, “destabilizing” plus “dangerous”. In addition, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Philip Breedlove stated militarily that the Russian Federation’s plans concerning nuclear refurbishing/ rearmament*** are unacceptable for a responsible nuclear power. Secretary of State John Kerry also was alarmed, “nobody should hear that kind of an announcement from the leader of a powerful country plus not be concerned about the implications”.
Moreover, such an unhealthy perception of a generally mundane communication of plans for future rearmament of Russian forces is surprising. For some reason, there wasn’t any appreciable reaction to almost the exact same numbers contained in the report of Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu at the the extended board meeting of the Ministry of Defense in the middle of December last year. At that time, the minister announced that strategic nuclear forces received 38 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 2014. At that same meeting Colonel-General Sergey Karakaev, who commands the Strategic Missile Troops, announced his scheduled receipt of 24 ICMB “Yars”. And a little bit later the main headquarters of the Russian Navy announced, that, at a minimum, at least one “Borei”-class submarine rocket carrier, received into the combat Navy fleet in 2015, would be outfitted with 16 “Bulava” missiles. That is to say that by the start of this year the sum total of 40 ICMBs to supply the army plus navy had already been made public. But for some reason these plans alarmed our wester partners when Vladimir Putin himself spoke of them.