Putin says Russia is expanding its nuclear arsenal

Russia is ready to hold security talks with NATO countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, as he reaffirmed Moscow's intentions to boost the nation's nuclear arsenal.

Referring to security in the Eurasian region, Putin said on Friday that the Kremlin “is ready for a broad international discussion on these important, vital issues – both with our colleagues in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the CIS, the EAEU, the BRICS, and other international organizations.” associations – European and NATO states, including,” said a Google-translated version This was reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.

“Of course, if they are ready for this,” the Russian president added at a meeting with graduates of military universities.

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had indicated that Russia's willingness to hold security talks with the US was specifically dependent on simultaneous discussions about the war in Ukraine.

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

His comments were in response to the opportunity to discuss nuclear risks with Washington, apart from the Ukrainian conflict. CNBC contacted the U.S. State Department about whether the White House would be willing to negotiate on these terms.

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

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said this separately in a version translated by Google Telegram update that talks on a new treaty on limiting nuclear firepower with the US are only possible if Washington stops supplying weapons to Ukraine and blocks 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 as one of the reasons behind Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv has asked for membership , but cannot join the coalition while there is active conflict on its territory.

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

“Let their entire 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 of its support for Kiev. Russia, which inherited the vast majority of the collapsed Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction, has the world's largest nuclear arsenal – with a total inventory of 5,580 nuclear warheads as of March, spread across military stockpiles and reserves. according to the Federation of American Scientists. The US, by comparison, has a combined stockpile of 5,044 nuclear warheads.

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

By February 2023, Putin had done just that Moscow's participation suspended in the important New START nuclear treaty with the US, without completely withdrawing his country from the agreement. The agreementwhich came into force in 2011 and was extended for another five years in 2021, required Russia and the US to deploy no more than 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles and a maximum of 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads.

The agreement also provided for up to 18 annual inspections that the two countries could conduct of each other's strategic nuclear weapons sites to monitor 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 to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and listen to Russia's concerns,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference in January. according to Reuters.

Putin ratcheted up the war rhetoric even further, warning NATO this year of the possibility of a nuclear conflict if the coalition followed through on a suggestion from French President Emmanuel Macron about deploying Western troops in Ukraine.

″[The West] must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they understand that?” Putin said in his annual State of the Nation address in February.