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The feud with the United States is getting worse, Russia is being urged to sharpen its nuclear weapons capabilities. Photo/REUTERS
MOSCOW – The Kremlin is urged to sharpen capabilities its nuclear weapons in response to a feud with United States of America (USA) is getting worse. This pressure arose from members of Parliament Russia as government elites focus on the war in Ukraine and the collapse of a landmark international arms control treaty.
Oleg Morozov, a member of the State Duma—the lower house of Russia’s Federal Parliament—representing the United Russia Party, the party supporting President Vladimir Putin, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Friday (2/6/2023) that the collapse of the US-Russia New START Agreement has leaving Moscow in a position of “no choice” but to upgrade its nuclear weapons capabilities.
The threat of nuclear war has loomed over Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, a military move that has exacerbated the collapse of several major nuclear arms control treaties.
On Thursday, the US announced it would stop sharing nuclear data with Russian inspectors in retaliation for Russia’s suspension of the New START Treaty in February 2022.
Morozov, who has been sanctioned by the European Union and suggested Russia attack Poland and Britain, is among Russian politicians and officials who frame the US decision as a nuclear escalation.
“The United States has been destroying all of the world’s international security systems for years to gain one-sided advantage,” he said.
“They left us no choice. Since they don’t want to keep the shield together, we have to sharpen our swords. Hypersonics, nuclear engines, accuracy, and invulnerability are the components of our sword. We have only two choices, start a nuclear war: win or not lose. People America should learn this,” he said.
Mark Voyger, former special adviser for Russian and Eurasia affairs to Lieutenant General Ben Hodges when Hodges was commander of US Army Europe, told Newsweek that the nuclear component is one of the most important in the context of Russian information and hybrid warfare.
“They use different channels to convey these threats. Sometimes they are veiled; when they come from the Kremlin itself, they want to maintain plausible deniability. But then they allow outlets like some media channels and some politicians who are known to be loose cannon type personalities ,” he explained.
