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Vladimir Putin

Washington —The US on Thursday accused Moscow of openly breaching Cold War-era treaties by developing what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a new generation of “invincible” hypersonic weapons and submarines.

Putin unveiled the new arsenal earlier on Thursday in a state of the nation address, challenging Washington to a new arms race ahead of a presidential election that will all but certainly confirm his grip on power.

Putin left his usual Kremlin perch to this year speak from a nearby exhibition centre – allowing him to show a series of video montages of missiles crossing mountains and oceans, heading over the Atlantic before striking the US eastern seaboard.

He quoted a speech he gave in 2004, vowing that Russia would develop a new generation of weaponry, a promise that he said he has now fulfilled.

“No one really wanted to talk to us basically. No one listened to us then. Listen to us now,” Putin said, prompting a standing ovation from the audience of top officials, lawmakers and celebrities.

He presented Russia’s military efforts as a response to recent actions by the US, which in February unveiled plans to revamp its own nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons.

The State Department expressed outrage at Putin’s presentation and his “cheesy” animated video of warheads over US soil – and said the Russian leader had confirmed long-held allegations about his programme.

“It was certainly unfortunate to have watched the video animation that depicted a nuclear attack on the United States,” spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters.

“That’s something that we certainly didn’t enjoy watching. We don’t regard that as the behaviour of a responsible international player,” she added.

“President Putin has confirmed what the United States government has known for a long time but that Russia has denied prior to this,” she added.

“Russia has been developing destabilising weapons systems for more than a decade in direct violation of its treaty obligations.”

Specifically, Nauert said that Moscow had proven itself in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), through its development of ground-launched cruise missiles.

The Pentagon reacted with more equanimity, with a spokesperson insisting that the US military remains “fully prepared” to react to “anything that comes our way”.

The US has long accused Russia of breaching the INF treaty and, while it is modernising its own nuclear arsenal, says that it remains in compliance with the terms of the Cold War accord.

The spat came as relations between the powers lie frozen at levels not seen since the Cold War over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and accusations that Moscow interfered in the US presidential election in 2016.

Also Thursday, the US formally approved the sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, which is fighting a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of the country. – AFP.