Putin aide warns of new arms race

MOSCOW» One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest associates warned in an interview that the U.S. and Russia are approaching a new arms race — the latest sign that geopolitical tensions are undermining nuclear arms control.

Sergey Chemezov, a top figure in Russia’s arms industry, said he didn’t believe the New START accord limiting the number of nuclear weapons deployed by the two countries could be renewed in the current political environment.

“How can we talk about further negotiations about arms reductions when we don’t trust each other?” Chemezov said in the interview with The Washington Post.

Chemezov is one of the most prominent Russians to express skepticism in recent weeks about the prospect for new nuclear arms talks with the United States. With Russian hopes dashed that President Donald Trump would improve relations with Moscow, the Russian elite increasingly appears unsettled by his more muscular approach.

For Russians, a new warning sign came earlier this month with the release of a U.S. Defense Department document recommending the development of new nuclear arms to counter Russia.

“It will lead to another arms race because we will have to do the same as the Americans,” Chemezov said, referring to the Defense Department’s Nuclear Posture Review. “And then a mere spark will be sufficient. With the number of weapons in the world today, there will be no winners; the world will be destroyed.”

Chemezov heads Rostec, a state industrial giant that makes small arms, helicopters, radar systems and other weapons and that controls Russian arms exports. He is also one of Putin’s key associates at the intersection of business and government and a longtime friend. The two served together in the KGB in Dresden, East Germany, in the 1980s and shared an entryway in a six-story apartment building.

Chemezov is under U.S. sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department. It referred to him as “a trusted ally of President Putin” when it announced sanctions against him and several other Russian officials in response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Treasury listed him as one of Russia’s “senior political leaders.”

“They think that people on the list will start getting upset and come to the Americans and say, ‘Yes, we are with you,’ and ‘Let’s overthrow Putin together,’ ” Chemezov said, referring to the sanctions list. “On the contrary — it had the exact opposite effect. All the people who are on the list support Putin.”

Echoing senior Russian politicians, Chemezov said he had been expecting a friendlier U.S. policy toward Russia after Trump took office. Loosened sanctions, Chemezov said, would have allowed his company to deepen its business ties with American companies such as Boeing.