US withdrawal from missile treaty is attempt to destroy strategic parity – Putin

Washington’s withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is an attempt to destroy strategic parity, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. He also said that “new forms of interaction” are needed in this area. The president recalled that in his state of the nation address to parliament on March 1, he already spoke about the development and trials of the most advanced strategic weapons that Russia was creating in response to Washington’s unilateral move. The modern weapons, which have been developed and are already being put into service, “of course, save this parity,” Putin said during his annual questions and answers session. However, he stressed that “it’s time to sit down at the negotiating table, and not only to think over, but to work out modern schemes of international European security, which are adequate to today’s reality.”