Trump Hints Return Of Race With Russia

Trump Hints Return Of Race With Russia

US President-elect, Donald Trump has hinted of a possible return of Arms race with Russia.

“Let it be an arms race” after he was asked to clarify a tweet in which he called for an expansion of US nuclear weapon capabilities.

He said: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all,”

The US President-elect and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, fired the starting gun on a new nuclear arms race on as they both vowed to launch a major expansion of their countries’ arsenals.

Mr Trump, the US president-elect, said on Twitter on Thursday: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

That appeared to be a response to sabre-rattling remarks hours earlier by Mr Putin.

“We need to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defence systems,” Mr Putin said.

He added: “We must carefully monitor any changes in the balance of power and in the political-military situation in the world, especially along Russian borders, and quickly adapt plans for neutralising threats to our country.”

He added: “We can say with certainty – we are stronger now than any potential aggressor. Anyone!”

On Friday Sean Spicer, Mr Trump’s newly appointed press secretary, was asked to clarify the president-elect’s position.

Mr Spicer said there were several countries, including Russia, that had talked about increasing their nuclear capability.

He said Mr Trump would be a “man of action” and would not “sit back and allow that to happen without acting in kind”.

Mr Spicer said: “He is going to do what it takes to protect this country. If another country, or other countries, want to threaten our sovereignty he’s going to do what it takes.

“He will not take anything off the table. He needs to send a clear and concise message, which he’s done, that he’s going to be a president that defends America’s interest and America’s people. It is him articulating how he is going to be as president.”

Russia and the United States jointly account for over 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, fielding an estimated 7,300 and 7,100 respectively.

Both country’s arsenals are regulated by a series of bilateral arms limitation treaties that place strict limits on the numbers and kinds of warheads and delivery systems they can field.

A rapid expansion of either country’s forces could shatter that arms control regime and plunge the world back into an era of Cold War style nuclear arms race.