- Mr. Nikonov, please, explain the logic to us. We present our newest arms prototypes and then suggest holding negotiations. Putin said that before, nobody wanted to negotiate with us and now they'll listen to us because we have those prototypes. Could you elaborate on that?
Vyacheslav Nikonov, member of the State Duma: First, I'd like to voice my support for the previous speaker because our viewers might think Putin's announcement was about nuclear arms. The statement was about Russia's powerful, innovative technological breakthroughs, which will ensure our economic growth and prosperity and will help us avoid falling behind technologically, as Putin put it. Putin demonstrated to us that there's no technological disadvantage. He showed our advantage, and not only in the field of military technology. You see, a technological disadvantage is a thing Russia has to overcome in many areas. And we are capable of doing that. Our military industry will propel our economic growth and its modernization and help us reach technological superiority. And the main message of his speech: We can and must become more innovative than the others. That's our main advantage. We'll use a moderate amount of resources and advanced technologies to achieve superiority in many areas.
Regarding the question you asked me about Putin suggesting negotiations: Putin reminded everyone that we've always supported peaceful ways. We didn't want to terminate the INF Treaty. Afterward, for many years, we've been suggesting the creation of a joint missile shield. But the American missile shield program is directed against us. They told us it was directed against Iran and North Korea. Okay. Their missile shield might work against Iran and North Korea. America spent hundreds of billions of dollars to create a missile shield that's worthless, as we've seen today. Shoigu called it "a leaky umbrella." So…
- That must have hurt, just imagine: "a leaky umbrella".
- The tension was reduced when the Americans were stuck in Vietnam. On the other hand, we reached strategic military parity, and the US realized that the arms race jeopardizes their security. The current situation is the same. We told them we have parity. And it will last for decades because the US lacks the prototypes that have been demonstrated. As Putin said, by the time they acquire something similar, we'll come up with something else, which means we already have. Today, Putin presented and demonstrated those systems that were no longer classified. Imagine the systems that remain classified. We have such systems.
