US-Russia Nuclear Showdown Looms as Putin Greets Fresh Obama Sanctions with 80+ New ICBMs by 2015 – Reports
Unfazed by the string of economic pressures from the West, as headlined by the fresh sanctions announced Friday by U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin revealed this week that Moscow will acquire 50 more intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) by end of 2015, further increasing the drumbeats of war.
A defiant Putin informed Russia's defence officials at the end of the week that by next year, the country's arsenal of ICBMs will see the delivery of around 80 more nuclear missiles. This 2014, the Kremlin acknowledged that 38 ICBMs were received by the Strategic Nuclear Forces, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency said in a new report.
Response to sanctions?
Putin made the announcement on the same day that the White House has given its approval on the U.S. Congress-authorised sanctions against Russia over the latter's annexation of Crimea this year and its perceived sponsorship of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
In his executive order, Obama "prohibits the export of goods, technology, or services to Crimea and prohibits the import of goods, technology, or services from Crimea, as well as new investments in Crimea," RT.com reported the new Washington directive as saying.
It is understood too that entities and individuals operating in Crimea will be affected by the sanctions, the report added.
Ukraine will also benefit from the U.S. intervention in the form of military hardware assistance that will allow Kiev to repel pro-Russian rebels fighting for independence in the east part of the country, as stipulated in the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 passed by American lawmakers.
Discrimination and provocation
On its part, the Kremlin deemed Obama's move and that of the West as political discrimination and a form of provocation.
"We would like to remind the EU about our lawful right to adequately respond to its so-called restrictive measures," the Russian foreign ministry was reported by RT.com as saying in an official statement.
Moscow maintained too that Crimea is an inalienable part of Mother Russia.
Powerful force
And as it was made clear that Russia will use "adequate response" as an option to the current problem, Putin pointed to the new ICBMs as representative of the powerful force that Russia is capable of.
He maintained that Russia firmly intends to upgrade the capabilities, the nuclear and conventional forces including, of its military in anticipation of hostilities that are directed against Russia.
"These forces are the crucial factor upholding the global equilibrium and they de facto rule out a possibility of a large-scale aggression against Russia," the ITAR-Tass report quoted Putin as saying.
