MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that his country's far-reaching missiles gave Moscow a military advantage.
No one has high-precision weapons, "the Russian leader said at the Sochi International Policy Forum. "The others are planning to start testing them within the next year to two years as we already have them," he said.
He pointed out that another new weapon called "Avangard" is scheduled to enter service in the next few months.
Putin said earlier this year that Avangard is an intercontinental missile capable of flying at 20 times the speed of sound, making it capable of penetrating any missile defense system.
The Russian president's sharp talk comes at a time when relations between Russia and the West are still frozen over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.
Putin said he still hoped US President Donald Trump could improve relations between the two countries. Trump is believed to want "some kind of stability and improvement in US-Russian relations," and said Moscow was ready to do so "at any moment."
He disclosed that his meeting with Trump in Helsinki in July was positive and that they had "a normal and professional dialogue" although their talks were strongly criticized by Trump.
At the same time, the Russian president strongly criticized Washington's reliance on sanctions against Russia and others, saying the punitive tool "undermines confidence in the dollar as a global payment instrument and as a major reserve currency."
"It's a typical mistake made by an empire," said Putin, "the empire always thinks it is so powerful that it can tolerate some mistakes and additional costs."
Putin stressed that Russia has nothing to fear because of its defense capability and "the people are ready to defend our sovereignty and our independence."
"There are people who are keen in every country to sacrifice their lives for the motherland," he said.
