MOSCOW (AA): Russia’s president on Friday ordered an increase in the shareof space, aerial, laser and hypersonic weapons in service in the Russianarmy.
“The range of unmanned intelligence and attack aircraft, laser andhypersonic systems, weapons based on new physical principles, as well asrobotic systems capable of performing diverse tasks on the battlefield mustbe expanded,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the country’s SecurityCouncil in Moscow.
Assessing that the state of international security had “recently worsened”,Putin underlined that the Russian army must be ready to face new challenges.
He said the U.S. had considerably aggravated the international security bywithdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
“The threat of the proliferation of missiles of this class in differentparts of the world has further increased tensions in the world,” said Putin.
On Aug. 2, the U.S. formally withdrew from the INF Treaty, following amonths-long war of words between Moscow and Washington. Later in the samemonth the U.S. tested a missile, previously banned under the treaty.
Read Top Stories
The treaty was signed in 1987 by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev andU.S. President Ronald Reagan, reducing the chances of a nuclear war inEurope.
Under the treaty, both sides destroyed the whole class of intermediate- andshort-range missiles in a span of four years.
International observers fear a fresh arms race in the absence of thislandmark treaty.
