“America’s New Nuclear Policy will Lead to Arms Race”; Rostec CEO

By Editor 23-Mar-2018

Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation, has expressed his concerns about the new aggressive nuclear policy recently announced by the United States of America and said that it will trigger another global arms race. “The closer relations are between Russia and America, the more arms should be reduced; first and foremost, nuclear arms. The United States is adopting a new program. This will not lead to an improvement in the situation in the world. It will lead to another arms race, because we will have to do the same as the Americans. This will keep building up and building up, and then a mere spark will be sufficient. With the number of weapons in the world today, there will be no winners. The world will be destroyed,” said Chemezov during an interview with The Washington Post.

The US Defense Department has recently announced its intention to revamp the country’s nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons. The Pentagon’s first “nuclear posture review” since 2010, published in February, talks about expanding America’s nuclear options. The decision has not been well received by many around the world as they fear it could lead to another cold war. Some has even pointed out that the new nuclear policy of the US is a “blueprint of war”. The words of Chemezov, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has much significance, and is critically important at a time when trust in the relationship between the two nations has deteriorated, and the threat of miscalculation and misperception has risen.

Chemezov has seemed less optimistic about the New START Treaty, signed between the United States of America and the Russian Federation in February 2010, as a measure for the reduction of strategic offensive arms. February 5, 2018 has marked the date that the Treaty’s central limits on each country’s strategic nuclear arsenal take effect. When asked about the treaty, Chemezov has said that talks about arms reduction are pointless when US and Russia lacked trustworthy relations. “Political relations must move to a more trustworthy level. Until such trustworthy relations are established, how can we talk about further negotiations about arms reductions when we don't trust each other?”, said Chemezov.

Chemezov has also said that the US and Russia should improve the bilateral ties and renew the New START Treaty for the better of the world. Referring to the US sanction on Russia, he has said that ‘the sanction is a simple example of unscrupulous competition’. Russia is ahead America and Europe in manufacturing in terms of technical characteristics and affordability. And it is because of this America does not allow and tries to push Russia out of markets where they have upper hand, he said.

Chemezov has held out hope that President Trump would keep his promise to improve bilateral ties between the two nations. In his election campaign, Trump has declared that he would re-examine the relations with Russia after entering office and would reduce tension caused by the previous government. “Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet, because he himself has gotten caught under various kinds of scrutiny. It’s probably not easy for him, either. Let’s see, maybe he will gain the strength to create some opportunities that will allow him to change something regarding Russia,” said Chemezov.

Talking about the increasing demand for Russia’s S-400 antiaircraft missile system, Chemezov has said that every country would try to enhance its security, especially its airspace, when the world’s political scenario becomes tense. Hence, the demand for missile defence systems is high. “If a country is capable of ensuring the safety of its airspace, it will feel more secure. Many countries would like to buy such systems, and we have many orders. I am not saying that we do not compete with Americans — of course we do. But according to my information, our system is better,” he said. He has further added that Russia signed a contract with Turkey regarding S-400 and the delivery will be started in 2019.