Putin says Russia to boost nuclear arsenal

President Vladimir Putin said June 16 that Russia would boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year, a move branded "sabre-rattling" by NATO and "a step backwards" by Washington.

The declaration from the Kremlin strongman came as Russia reacted with fury to reports that the US is planning to bulk up its military deployments in eastern Europe, adding to tensions between Russia and the West which have rocketed over the past year over the Ukraine conflict.
 
"This year, the size of our nuclear forces will increase by over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles that will be able to overcome any, even the most technologically advanced, missile defence systems," Putin said at the opening of an exhibition of military hardware outside Moscow.
 
The United States voiced concern and called it a retrograde move reminiscent of the Cold War.
 
"We've had enormous cooperation from the 1990s forward with respect to the destruction of nuclear weapons that were in former territories of the Soviet Union. And nobody wants to see us step backwards," said US Secretary of State John Kerry.
 
"Nobody wants to -- I think -- go back to a kind of Cold War status."  

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said Putin's remarks were part of a dangerous pattern of behaviour by Moscow.
 
"This nuclear sabre-rattling by Russia is unjustified, destabilising and it is dangerous," Stoltenberg said.
 
Putin said that Russia would defend itself if threatened, accusing NATO of "coming to our (Russia's) borders".
 
Russia has an estimated 7,500 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, of which around 1,780 are deployed on missiles or at military...