A new missile system should give Western powers pause before they threaten Russia, Vladimir Putin told his defense advisers in Moscow on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSerious, breakthrough steps have been made in the development of the unique state-of-the-art weapons,\u201d Putin said, according to an official transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. \u201cThese weapons are consolidating the balance of forces and, thus, international stability. I hope our new systems will provide food for thought to those who are used to militaristic and aggressive rhetoric.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Putin made it clear he was thinking about the West, as he touted the success of recent military exercises with China. Likewise, he said that \u201chypersonic weapons\u201d helped maintain parity with the United States even though the Pentagon has a \u201cmilitarist budget\u201d far larger than the Russian defense ministry funding.<\/span><\/p>\n “It is necessary to [more quickly] switch over to modern armament that possesses enhanced capabilities of breaching advanced missile shield defenses,\u201d Putin also said, according to TASS<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a state-run media outlet.<\/span><\/p>\n Those comments come two weeks after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set a deadline for Russia to return to compliance with a 1987 nuclear weapons treaty that bans<\/a><\/strong><\/span> the deployment of ground-based intermediate range missiles. The United States plans to provide formal notice of withdrawal from the treaty in February.<\/span><\/p>\n “Moscow has fielded multiple battalions of SSC-8, and all of them are positioned for offensive purposes,” State Department under secretary Andrea Thompson, using the formal U.S. name for the missile, explained after Pompeo\u2019s announcement<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a> “If we want credible arms control deterrent, we’ve got to demonstrate that our treaties are worth the paper they’re written on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Putin denied any violations, saying the United States had sought a \u201ctrivial pretext\u201d for exiting the accord.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSuch a step will have the most negative consequences and will noticeably weaken regional and global security,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, in the long term, it may result in the degradation and even collapse of the entire architecture of arms control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But he made clear that he thought the deal\u2019s original negotiators made a bad agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLand-based missiles were to be liquidated, since the Soviet Union had no others,\u201d Putin said. \u201cThe United States had sea- and air-based missiles, while we did not. Therefore, from the point of view of the Soviet Union, this was unilateral disarmament. God knows why the Soviet leaders decided to go ahead with unilateral disarmament.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n