Today Vladimir Putin announced Russia had developed a terrifying array of nuclear weapons that can reach anywhere in the world and are “invulnerable to enemy interception”.
The announcement marks “a new arms race that will put us under the terror of a new Cold War” an expert has warned as Russia, North Korea, China and United States – all participants in the last Cold War – continue to build up their military arsenal.
Beatrice Fihn, executive director of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said: “Putin’s statement makes it clear we are in a new arms race that will put us under the terror of a new Cold War, in constant fear of death at any instant.
“While Russia and the US compare the size of their arsenals, the rest of the world is joining a treaty that bans them.”
Ms Fihn’s comments follow Mr Putin’s speech to the Russian Federal Assembly where the President boasted Moscow had developed missiles that no other nation possesses.
And in a thinly veiled threat to the West, the Russian President said: “Russia remained a nuclear power, but no one wanted to listen to us. Listen to us now.”
Mr Putin’s remarks were later echoed by Russia’s defence minister Sergey Shoygu who further accused NATO countries of trying to drag Moscow into a new arms race.
Last year North Korea test launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) which they boasted could reach the US mainland, while Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to upgrade the US’s military with a huge budget increase.
In February this year, China announced a new J-20 stealth fighter warplane had deployed into combat service.
People’s Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke said the deployment of the warplane would “help the air force better shoulder the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”
The latest addition to China’s army is believed to be equipped with unique WS-15 turbo engines capable of reaching supersonic speeds
Meanwhile, Russia’s latest arsenal is said to include a new supersonic weapon that cannot be tracked by anti-missile systems.
Mr Putin also added that Russia now had underwater drones that can carry nuclear warheads are also being tested by the secretive nation.
And the Russian leader said military chiefs had an operational ballistic missile with a limitless range.
He claimed the missile could not be stopped by a US shield, as a video simulation played on a big screen.
Mr Putin said: “It’s a low-flying, difficult-to-spot cruise missile with a nuclear payload with a practically unlimited range and an unpredictable flight path.
“It can bypass lines of interception and is invincible in the face of all existing and future systems of both missile defence and air defence.”
The Russian announcement comes after Dr Paul Miller, who served on the US’s National Security Council (NSC) under former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, warned a new rivalry between world powers is brewing.
Dr Miller told the Express.co.uk: “The Cold War was just the continuation of normal great power rivalry and suspicion under the unique conditions of bipolarity and stark ideological rivalry.
“Today there are more great powers, so we have a multipolar rather than bipolar competition. The ideological rivalry has shifted from communism against capitalism to a new contest between authoritarian capitalism against liberal democratic capitalism.”
“There is far more trade between and among the great powers than there was during the Cold War, making all powers more hesitant to risk economically catastrophic conflict. But it also means we are less able to ignore one another or isolate ourselves from one another.
“A war or limited military strike of some kind on the Korean Peninsula is more likely than not. War with Russia is unlikely in the short term.”