The U.S. should study Russia’s military capabilities before it decides to deploy is own military assets around the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
Putin said at Russia’s Federal Assembly that U.S. politicians are “obsessed with the idea of their exclusiveness and superiority over the rest of the world.”
“This is certainly their right to think this way,” Putin said, according to Tass, Russia’s state-owned news outlet. “But can they make the calculations? Undoubtedly they can. So let them calculate the range and speed of our advanced weapon systems.”
“This is the only thing we ask to do — make the calculations first before passing decisions that may pose additional serious threats to our country and will certainly entail Russia’s countermeasures,” he added.
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have been rising over the last few years. Russia annexed Crimea over the world’s objections in 2014, and then Democrats charged Russia helped President Trump win the 2016 presidential election.
The U.S. and Russia have also clashed in Syria’s civil war, although Trump has lately said the U.S. is about to withdraw U.S. troops.
Despite his bragging about Russia’s weapons systems, Putin said he isn’t interested in a confrontation with America.
“We are not interested in confrontation and do not want it, moreover with such global power as the United States,” he said. “However, it seems that that our partners take no notice how rapidly the world is changing and where it is heading to. They carry on with their destructive and obviously erroneous policy.”
[Also read: Russia admits new US sanctions would hammer its ailing economy]
