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Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. Photo/Reuters
MOSCOW – Secretary of the Security Council Russia and a close ally of the President Vladimir Putin Nikolai Patrushev, recently stated that the country can attack United States of America (USA) with “unique” weapons.
Patrushev has served on the Kremlin Security Council since 2008 and has been a friend of Putin since the 1970s, with the two men previously working side by side in the KGB, the main security force in the Soviet Union.
On Monday, the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper conducted an interview with Patrushev, which focused broadly on the US and its relationship with Russia on the world stage. At one point, he claimed that American officials had the shortsighted and dangerous folly of assuming that Russia could not meaningfully respond to a preemptive strike. He also threatened the use of “unique” weapons in response.
“For some reason, American politicians held captive by their own propaganda remain convinced that in the event of a direct conflict with Russia, the United States is capable of launching a preventive missile strike, after which Russia can no longer respond,” said Patrushev.
“This is short-sighted stupidity, and very dangerous. Russia is patient and does not intimidate anyone with its military superiority. But Russia has a unique modern weapon capable of destroying any adversary, including the United States, if there is a threat to its very existence,” he added. Newsweek, Tuesday (28/3/2023).
It is unclear at this stage what modern unique weapons Patrushev might be referring to in his comments. Newsweek reached out to global defense experts by email for comment.
However, his comments came shortly after Putin announced that Russia would begin stockpiling nuclear weapons in Belarus for the first time since the 1990s. Putin claimed the move was in response to Britain supplying Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium, which he called a weapon with a “nuclear component” and a “significant escalation”.
Although it still contains some radioactivity, depleted uranium contains too little radioactivity to have a large impact and is instead used for its higher density.
Although relations between Russia and the US have been strained for decades, Russia’s confrontational rhetoric has intensified following the invasion of Ukraine last year. That conflict led to the US, and other Western allies, providing extensive military service to Ukraine and pledging to uphold their defense agreements if Russia attacked a NATO ally.
On the other hand, Russian officials and experts have repeatedly raised the possibility of an attack on the US if the US threatens their country in a certain way.
(ian)
