Pentagon dismisses Putin’s boasts about nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Thursday dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s boasts about developing a new array of nuclear weapons, saying America’s missile defense is ready to protect the nation but is not direct- ed at Russia.

Putin claims that Moscow has tested weapons that cannot be intercepted and would make NATO’s missile defense “useless.” That assertion does little to change the long-standing nuclear standoff between the U.S. and Russia, which is rooted in deterrence and the reality that neither country would launch such weapons because doing so would mean mutual destruction. But it amps up the rhetoric and fuels worries about a new arms race.

“This is not about defense, it’s about deterrence,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, adding that the Defense Department was not surprised by the weapons claims. She added that U.S. missile defenses are not designed with Russia’s nuclear arsenal in mind, and Moscow knows this “very well.”

The U.S. has consistently argued that missile defense systems in Europe are not aimed at Moscow, but rather designed to defend against threats from Iran and North Korea.

Putin, in a state-of-thenation speech Thursday, said the new weapons include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, a nuclearpowered underwater drone that could be armed with a nuclear warhead, and a hypersonic missile that have no equivalent in the world.