The new nuclear weapons include a cruise missile with unlimited range and an underwater drone that cannot be intercepted by antimissile systems, the Russian president said. He then said that the build-up is designed to bring about global peace.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Moscow is developing a new range of supersonic nuclear weapons that cannot be intercepted by antimissile systems. In his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, Putin claimed that Russia has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with unlimited range that will be "invulnerable to enemy interception," rendering US antimissile systems useless.

Responding to the Russian president's claims, the Pentagon said it wasn't "surprised by his statements." "The American people should rest assured that we are fully prepared," said Pentagon chief spokesperson Dana White. A nuclear-powered underwater drone, equally immune to interception, is also under development, Putin had said.

The crowd in the Russian capital was shown a series of graphics showing the new technology being propelled around the Earth.



it may look like it was made on Windows 98, but here's the video from Putin's speech as he unveiled Russia's suppos… https://t.co/aVEiFePNAO

Putin shows a video about Russia's ICBMs. The crowd goes wild.

One showed the underwater nuclear drone, which Putin announced did not have a name, and that people were welcome to submit their suggestions to the Defence Ministry website.



Putin has just announced a web contest to name Russia's new underwater nuclear drone weapon

In addition to graphics, footage showing the actual weapons was played during the address.

Russia Today

After boasting about the enhanced capabilities, Putin claimed that the build-up was not intended to attack any other country — but was in fact designed to guarantee world peace. Russia's nuclear doctrine, he said, only plans for response to nuclear attack.

He stressed that the new tests were a response to US military build-up, which he said would make Russia's nuclear arsenal pointless unless Russia acts.

The technology, he said, would outweigh the growing NATO presence on Russia's borders. The Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria are currently hosting thousands of soldiers from the body's member states. Experts soon expressed their apprehension on social media, however. Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, tweeted his concern that the news would center US–Russia relations around war prevention.



For the foreseeable future, it looks that the US-Russia agenda will be limited to just one item: war prevention. Good luck to us all.