Senators on both sides of the aisle shot back at Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday after he boasted in an annual state-of-the-union address that Russia possesses nuclear weapons capable of bypassing missile defense systems.
Putin described an array of newly developed strategic weapons, including a “low-flying stealth cruise missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with an almost unlimited range” and an “unpredictable trajectory” that renders missile defense systems “useless.” He framed the weapons developments as a response to U.S. actions, including America’s withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and U.S. missile defense system deployments near Russia’s borders.
Putin said Thursday: “To those who in the past 15 years have tried to accelerate an arms race and seek unilateral advantage against Russia, have introduced restrictions and sanctions that are illegal from the standpoint of international law aiming to restrain our nation’s development, including in the military area, I will say this: Everything you have tried to prevent through such a policy has already happened. No one has managed to restrain Russia.”
Lawmakers were quick to criticize the Russian leader’s address.
“Everything [Putin] does has been a resurgence of Cold War rhetoric and the Novo-Russia that he wants to see,” said New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham described the remarks as “bluster by Putin for domestic purposes.”
“It is a weak guy who is inherently weak, trying to be strong,” Graham said. “We have nuclear capability. Mutually assured destruction is alive and well.”
Oklahoma senator James Lankford also questioned whether Putin made the “exceptionally sad” remarks with an eye to the March 18 presidential election.
“I don’t know if he feels, for his own election back in Russia, that he is in such a weak position that he has to threaten America to try to build up some sort of patriotism,” he said. “It’s a sad commentary on his own leadership.”
Top Democrat on the Senate intelligence Committee Mark Warner, whose panel is investigating 2016 Russian election interference, warned of what an emboldened Russia means for the 2018 midterm elections.
“This is a Russia that feels it has reemerged on the world stage, and what we’ve seen is not only a build-up of conventional weapons, but they have been masters of using cyber warfare, misinformation, disinformation,” said Warner. “While I think we will always be able to overcome their efforts on a conventional basis, with elections coming up as soon as next week … we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Russia waged a multifaceted campaign to influence the 2016 election, using state-run propaganda, targeted leaks, and other methods. NSA director Mike Rogers told lawmakers Tuesday that the U.S. has not done enough to deter Putin from meddling.
During his address Thursday, Putin described an underwater nuclear-powered drone and a hypersonic missile that travels at more than 20 times the speed of sound. He said that Russia is not violating current arms control agreements with its weapons work.
And, after detailing an array of weapons, Putin added that Russia is not “threatening anyone.”
“Russia’s growing military strength is not a threat to anyone. We have never had any plans to use this potential for offensive, let alone aggressive goals.”
“Russia’s growing military power,” Putin said, “is a solid guarantee of global peace.”
