Putin’s “invincible” nukes earn rare Trump rebuke days later

MOSCOW — While Vladimir Putin boasted that his latest “invincible” nuclear weapons prove the U.S. and its allies have failed to contain Russia, the display of bravado risks a new arms race that his country is ill-equipped to win.

Putin earned a rare rebuke Monday from President Donald Trump, who called him “irresponsible” for showing off the weapons in a speech to Russia’s Federal Assembly last week that was laced with anti-American rhetoric ahead of March 18 presidential election. He played videos of warheads targeting what appeared to be a map of Florida, as he complained the U.S. repeatedly ignored Russian objections to its missile-defense shield.

“This was a signal to the West, the U.S. in particular, that Russia is ready for nuclear isolationism,” said Andrei Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Kremlin-established research group. “Moscow is now openly stating that it’s prepared for the destruction of the system of strategic arms control that it and Washington built up over 50 years.”

With ties between Russia and the U.S. roiled by allegations of Kremlin meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and deepening confrontation in Syria, the two powers risk a return to unbridled nuclear competition as the chances diminish of rescuing decades-old arms control agreements. Putin blamed the U.S. decision in 2002 to pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and develop its global defense shield for prompting Russia to develop its new arsenal.

He devoted more than a third of his annual address to the weapons, using videos and animated charts to present high-speed underwater drones, cruise missiles with “practically unlimited range,” a nuclear-powered ballistic missile and hypersonic weapons capable of dodging U.S. defenses at up to 10 times the speed of sound.

Russia’s seeking to maintain strategic parity and isn’t threatening anyone, though “be sure that everything I have said today is not a bluff,” Putin said.

“With little to offer on the domestic front, Mr. Putin decided to use the American bogeyman” ahead of the elections, Steven Pifer, nonresident senior fellow in arms control at the Brookings Institution in Washington, wrote on its website.

Trump, who has made no public statements about the Russian challenge to the U.S., criticized Putin’s arms display during a phone call with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, according to a White House readout.

The State Department called the video animation “cheesy” and said it was “unfortunate” that it depicted “a nuclear attack on the United States.” The White House, which has announced defense spending of around $700 billion in the next fiscal year, said the speech showed Russia had developed weapons “in direct violation of its treaty obligations.”

While Russia may have achieved a technological breakthrough, it’s just as likely that “the Kremlin is counting on a miracle,” said Alexander Golts, an independent defense analyst based in Moscow.

The Russian military budget, reduced to 2.77 trillion rubles ($48.5 billion) this year from 3.05 trillion rubles in 2017 amid belttightening because of a stagnant economy, is a fraction of U.S. defense spending. Still, “it’s not important if Putin was bluffing,” said Golts.